Parents Forum Newssheet

Issue 2 - June 2006

Disability Equality Scheme for Darlington Borough Council

DAD is working in partnership to support the Council in developing its Disability Equality scheme that will become a legal requirement by the end of this year.

This is an important opportunity to influence the work of the Local Authority and a range of consultations will also take place over the coming months.

If anyone is interested in being considered for the steering group that is being established to develop the scheme then please contact please contact:

Gordon Pybus, Chair of DAD on 01325 489999 or e-mail gordon@darlingtondisability.org as soon as possible.

All support needs will be met such as, personal assistance, communication.

Parents Forum Website

The parents forum has its own webpage. On the page is information on the parents forum, details about the next meeting time and venue etc and copies of previous news sheets.

The page is hosted on the DAD website and the link can be found by looking down the menu bar on the left hand side.

Articles for the Newsletter

If you have any information that you feel would be useful to other parents and would like to see it included in the next parents news sheet then please contact Chris on 01325 489999 or e-mail chris@darlingtondisability.org

DASH Inclusive Playcare

DASH is an inclusive playscheme, fully registered with Ofsted for all children aged between 3 and 15 years. There are presently still some summer places available for this scheme. Please contact Garry West on 01325 489999 or e-mail garry@darlingtondisability.org .

CHYPS Service

D.A.D. has recently been awarded a grant from the Big Lottery Fund to enable us to bring together the services we provide for disabled children and families in a new Children and Young Peoples Service (ChYPS). The Big Lottery Fund will also enable several new strands of work to be added, including a role to ensure that strategic planning in Darlington takes account of disabled children when developing play and leisure opportunities.

The new service will include:

Bridges

Following the success of the Better Play Inclusion Pilot project the Big Lottery Fund will enable Garry West, Inclusion Co-ordinator, staff and volunteers to support individual children in accessing the play and leisure opportunities of their choice. Their role will be to support individuals to ensure the transition into mainstream play and leisure is as smooth as possible.

What can you do?

ChYPS is a service which is dedicated and committed to the inclusion and involvement of all children, young people and their families. We want parents of children and young people accessing our service and organisation to be involved in the development of our new service. We are looking for parents to get in touch if they would like to get involved with this exciting new project. In addition and most importantly we want the children and young people using our services to tell us how they want their service to be run.

For further information please contact either:

Jacki Hiles 01325 489999 email: jacki@darlingtondisability.org

Garry West 01325 489999 email: garry@darlingtondisability.org

Inclusive Opportunities Fund

This is a pot of money available to support disabled children to access mainstream play, leisure and out of school activities. For further information please contact:

Chris on 01325 489999 or e-mail chris@darlingtondisability.org

Produced by Darlington Association on Disability

Registered Charity No. 518265

Tel: 01325 489999