The Families Information Service intends this page to provide you with information about local services available to you (see Family Services Directory in Related Links) and also links to other useful websites and helplines.
There are a range of services provided by Wakefield Council for disabled children, young people and their families, these include:-
Wakefield’s Early Support, Advice, Information and Liaison Service (WeSail) Wakefield Council and NHS Wakefield District fund KIDS, the disabled children’s charity, to deliver a service to families caring for a child with additional needs and living within the Wakefield district. The intention is to provide a first stop for families in terms of information, advice, support and signposting. For more information see our leaflet in Related Downloads or look at our information on www.kids.org.uk or call WeSail on 01924 379015
Designated Keyworking Service - WeSail offers a district wide Designated Keyworking Service to parents of disabled children (aged 0-8 years at the moment). A designated keyworker acts as a co-ordination point for getting the right support in place, giving advice, information and emotional support. For Further information on Early Support please see Related Links.
Short Term Support - WeSail also has staff from other agencies to offer advice and short term support. This support may be especially useful to young people going through transition, or where a child has just received a diagnosis of autism or for children and young people with sensory impairments.
Information Network - WeSail also manages the Information Network this is for families of disabled children, children with additional needs or professionals working with families who want to receive regular information and newsletters about services and events for disabled children. See Related Download for Information and an Application form.
Information and Advice - KIDS WeSail produce Starting Point. This is a Resource Directory for Parents/Carers & Disabled Children, and it aims to provide information about services that are available for disabled children and young people and their families in the Wakefield District. The directory can be viewed in Related Downloads. For more information on WeSail please call the advice line available Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5.00pm on 01924 379015.
Children with Complex Care Needs Team - This team offers support to disabled children, young people and their families. All referrals to the Children with Complex Care Needs Team are via Social Care Direct 0845 8 503 503.
Short Break Services
The aim of the Short Break Service is to give parents the opportunity to do other things, spend time together, or with their other children. It also gives the disabled child/young person the opportunity to experience new things and have fun. A range of short break services are on offer in the Wakefield district. This can be either through overnight breaks at a residential unit or via outreach services. In the first instance contact WeSail on 01924 379015.
Short Breaks Statement - From 1 October 2011, all local authorities are required to publish a Short Breaks Statement which provides information about the range of Short Breaks available in the District, the eligibility criteria, and how the services meet the needs of children with disabilities and their carers. To view the Short Breaks Statement, please see ‘Related Downloads’
Access Guidance - This guidance describes the support, services and short breaks that are available in the Wakefield District for families caring for a disabled child. It outlines the services and support you can access without an assessment and those for which you will need an assessment. For more information see the Access Guidance document in Related Downloads.
Get Started (Barnardo's) - The Get Started project is funded by Wakefield Council and is for disabled children and young people aged 5-19. The aim of the project is to support children and young people to access mainstream leisure activities. Get Started workers can:
- Search for activities in the area a person lives
- Support organisations within the local community to understand disability issues and provide an inclusive environment
- Provide short term support to young people to access a leisure activity or club
Children and young people can refer themselves to Get Started as can parents, carers and professionals. For more information about Get Started, or to make a referral contact Get Started on 01924 239250.
Awake Mentoring Service - Awake recruit and train volunteers who have experience of disability to mentor anyone aged 14 years plus who has a disability, learning difficulty or long term health condition to achieve their personal goals. This could be anything from building confidence, accessing services, new hobbies or interested in training, voluntary work or employment. For more information contact the Awake Mentoring Service on 01924 334579.
Direct Payments - Direct Payments are a payment from Wakefield Council to buy the services you need and are an alternative to services provided by Family Services. You can employ your own personal assistant to provide care or use a care agency rather than be an employer yourself. A person will first need to be assessed to find out if they are eligible for Direct Payments. For more information on Direct Payments contact your social worker or if you don’t have a social worker contact Social Care Direct on: 0845 8 503 503.
Home Based Break Service - The Home Based Break Service offers support to disabled children and young people and their families. It provides short breaks which take place in either a child’s own home, or the local community. Children and young people with a significant disability between the ages of 0 -18 can be considered for the service. The service is not available to children and young people who may have emotional or behavioural difficulties but no other disability. For further information see Related Downloads.
The services offered by Home Based Break Service include:-
Family Link Service - Family Link is a service that provides safe care and support in a child/young person’s own home or out in the community. This may be alongside or independent of parents/carers. Family Link is a service for children aged 0-18. For further information contact the Home Based Break Service on 01924 302291.
Leisure Link - Leisure Link provides disabled children (aged 8 - 18 years) short breaks ‘out and about’ in the community. These breaks help them pursue leisure interests, have fun, gain confidence, learn new skills and develop independence. The children and young people along with their families decide what kinds of activities they take part in. For example, this could include swimming, bowling, cinema trips, visiting places of local interest, joining a young people’s club or sports group, or just meeting up with friends. For further information on Leisure Link contact the Home Based Break Service on 01924 302291.
Sitting Service - This service is open to any family caring for a child/young person aged 0-18, who has significant disabilities. This service is limited to a sitting service and children/young people will not be taken out for leisure actives. You may be eligible for this service if you are receiving higher or middle rate Disability Living Allowance. Families receive vouchers for a maximum 24 hours of support from April-March. Each session lasts for a minimum of 3 hours to a maximum of 6 hours between 9am-11pm (excluding public holidays) and is subject to availability. For more information on the Sitting Service contact the Home Based Break Service on 01924 302291.
Connect Placement - A Connect Placement is a short break service for children with a significant disability (aged 0-18). The placement takes place within carers’ own homes, with both day and overnight care available. Children are placed with one carer, who they visit regularly. This allows consistency and enables the carer to get to know the child and their family. For further information call the Home Based Break Service on 01924 302291
Overnight Residential Short Break - Wakefield Council and Wakefield District NHS offer overnight short breaks to children/young people and their families living in the Wakefield District at:-
Wasdale Children’s Resource Centre - Offers overnight short-breaks for children and young people aged 5-18 with learning disability and/or a physical disability or sensory impairment.
Star House - Provides planned residential short breaks for up to seven children and young people aged 8-17 with learning disability; with a dual diagnosis of complex physical and / or sensory needs and / or challenging behaviour.
To access overnight short breaks an assessment will be carried out by your social worker. If you do not have a social worker contact WeSail on 01924 379015 or Social Care Direct 0845 8 503 503 to ask for a referral to be made for an assessment.
Childcare for Disabled Children
Wakefield Inclusion Kitemark - Wakefield Council commissioned KIDS to establish a kite mark to demonstrate to families childcare settings who are welcoming and inclusive to meet their children’s needs. 30 Childcare settings in Wakefield have recently been awarded ‘The All of Us Framework’ Quality Inclusion Kitemark for more information please call KIDS on 01924 299488 or see Related Downloads.
KIDS Inclusion Project - Wakefield Council funds KIDS to provide the Inclusion Service to promote inclusion of disabled children access to mainstream childcare. For more information please contact KIDS on 01924 299488
Useful Contacts for Advice and Information
DIAL Wakefield - A free, independent, Community Legal Service quality marked advice and information service for disabled people living within the boundary of Wakefield Council. Disabled people, their carers and families can contact DIAL for anything directly related to disability and or caring, on 01977 723933/34.
Wakefield Parent Partnership Service - Is an independent advice, information and support service for parents/carers of children with special educational needs. The Parent Partnership Service can be contacted on 0800 587 8042.
Free Disabled Children's Services E-Learning Package
This free online training package is available to all staff working with disabled children in the Wakefield district including: short breaks / sessional workers, voluntary sector partners, parents, local authority, health care professionals, and volunteers. There are over 40 modules available in this flexible package, enough to cover a range of different requirements from those who need a simple introduction and overview through to those working with disabled children and young people on a daily basis. This suite of e-learning has been mapped to meet the National Minimum Standards for Domiciliary Care, Play and Youth Work. For more information please see Related Downloads.
In order to access the E-Learning Package all you need is an email address for KIDS to be able to create a learning account for your own individual use. To obtain your own learning account send an email to enquiries.wakefield@kids.org.uk or to find out further information call Val Railton at KIDS on 01924 299488.
Useful Documents
Transition Pack - The Transition Pack is for young people in year 9 and above at school who have a statement of Special Educational Needs and their families. The aim of the pack is to outline the transition process and what will happen in each school year from year 9 onwards. It is hoped that the transition pack will explain the process, jargon that may be used, and indentify services/organisations that maybe involved in the transition process. A paper copy of the pack has been sent out to all young people in Wakefield with a Statement of Special Educational needs via their school. Copies of the booklets which make up the pack are available in Related Downloads.
The 'Listening to Parents and Disabled Children - You Said, We Did' document (see Related Downloads) lists the key issues raised by parents, shows how these are being addressed and details the future commitment from Wakefield Council and NHS Wakefield District.
Newsletters
Below are a number of newsletters which can be viewed in Related Downloads on the right.
Carers Wakefield & District have published Issue 51 of their News-Sheet.
Issue 2 of Wakefield Parent Partnership Service News, an e-newsletter to keep you up to date with what’s happening in the Wakefield District for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN).
The West Yorkshire ADHD Support Group Newsletter.
The latest issue of the Wakefield & District Down's Syndrome Support Group newsletter.
Issue 9 of News and Views the newsletter to help keep parents and carers of disabled children or those with an additional need updated with local and national news.
Forthcoming Events
Vacancy for Direct Short Breaks Worker
Are you looking for a job that is full of activity, is sometimes challenging, and always satisfying? Then being a KIDS Direct Short Break Worker may be just what you are looking for!
KIDS are looking to recruit a Direct Short Breaks Worker as part of the existing Inclusion Service within Wakefield to provide Direct Short Breaks to families of disabled children.
If you are interested please see the document in Related Downloads for contact details and how to apply.
Parents Reference Group (Carers Wakefield & District)
The Parents Reference Group meet every 6 weeks to steer the way in which parents are involved in service monitoring and development and to discuss the issues that are important as a parent of a child with disabilities or young person up to age 18 in the Wakefield District. It is a leading consultative group for parents of disabled children and young people living in Wakefield District, providing an opportunity for direct discussion to improve the knowledge and understanding of all partners and inform future policy and practice. It has established good partnership relationships between parents, the local authority and related services. It provides a non-confrontational, equal status setting for parents, carers, voluntary groups and representatives of statutory bodies, to explore Special Education Needs, disability issues and mutual areas of concern. The next meeting will be held on:
To Be Confirmed
For further information see the leaflet in Related Downloads or call Carers Wakefield & District on 01924 305544.