We have a very experienced 3 worker support team who have been helping to support families with learning disabled children (up to 18 years old) for many years.

The goal with our Childrens service is quite simply; to support young parent carers with many aspects of their lives they need help and support with. Whether it’s getting the correct benefits/financial support, education/schooling issues, housing matters, respite breaks and more.

Our services follow the live journey of the parents caring role. When the child turns 19 years old they are then transitioned over to our THRIVE Service (young adults support), providing continuity for the parents we work with.

Note: Our charity only supports carers of children with learning disabilities, not the children directly.

When a parent has a child with a severe learning disability the emotional distress can be overwhelming for a young family, with the imagined typical family life they were expecting no longer available to them in many cases. Our staff, many of which are carers themselves, are experienced when it comes to supporting young families with compassion, understanding and can relate with their own experiences.

Of paramount importance to us is the wellbeing of the parent carer, as many can spiral into depression and despair. Without support many parents can reject and resent their child who then grows up in a poor environment which can lead to them becoming disenfranchised and isolated from society, giving them a poor start in life. Many learning disabled children can then get into the wrong crowds and are easily manipulated/led-on to engage in anti-social and criminal behaviours.

In addition the financial burden from looking after a severely disabled child can be overbearing for many, and with the complicated nature of a lot of the benefit systems in place, can be overwhelming for a young family that are already highly distressed. Our support for these carers is vital at this stage of the caring process with there being many cases where carers could easily succumb to despair and become a risk to themselves or child without our help and support.

It’s therefore important we work closely with the parents to address the issues they have and uplift and inspire them to think positively about the future to best help the welfare of the whole family, and that the learning disabled child gets the best start in life, and where capable establish their independence to become a positive and valued member of society and our community when they enter adulthood.