Contact a Family - Birmingham
Key Facts
Location
Project Criteria
Project funding
£98,622
Funding round
Contact a Family is a national charity established in 1979. We provide advice, information, support and contact with other families to the parents and families of disabled children.
Our Birmingham project will help isolated and socially excluded parents of disabled children in coping with their disabled children and using the services they need. We want to focus on black and minority ethnic families while raising awareness of disability among community organisations used by parents.
Aims:
To increase choice, knowledge and confidence among parents from minority ethnic communities, and those who work with them, in caring for their disabled children.
To encourage isolated parents to join or start parents' support groups - for example fathers, parents from minority ethnic groups.
To build the capacity of parents and parent groups to speak up for themselves.
We will achieve this by:
- mapping networks and groups of Asian, African, Afro-Caribbean and South East Asian populations in the city and finding out what services they use for their disabled children
- providing opportunities for parents to get together, identify their needs and start to address them - for example, a meeting of Afro-Caribbean fathers; an evening workshop for fathers of disabled children; a group event for Asian families
- providing skills development for parents in starting and running groups - for example an Asian parents group
- offering training to group leaders in assertiveness, negotiating skills; public speaking; running groups, chairing meetings
- helping interested parents to find ways of influencing services
- exploring the need for interpreting and translated materials and finding out ways of meeting it.
Free telephone helpline: 0808 8083555 open Monday to Friday 10.00 - 16.00