in November, we launched a survey to find out what support is needed by families.

The results have made for depressing reading.  With the huge amount of legislation in place for our families, life should not have to be this hard.  So many families have shared stories with us of when they were in crisis or approaching crisis and told us what support is needed.  We would like to say a big thank you to those who did complete our survey.   We will keep the survey open until the end of February so please, if you have time, take 5 minutes to complete it.

The results so far:

• The age of people needing support ranged from 4 to 55 years of age
• 67% of those were under 20
• Even more depressingly, 21% were under the age of 10
• 67% of those who responded had experienced a crisis
• 11% said they hadn’t
• 22% were approaching crisis
• 9% felt they had no one to turn to for support
• 23% felt they only had their family for support and no one else
• 42% turned to third sector or statutory service support
• 53% had not been given any direction as to where to go when they needed help
• A small percentage had had to turn to the Police or Accident & Emergency to get help as they felt they had no one else to turn to
• 56% did not know where to go for support or were too exhausted to search for support

What support is needed?

• Emotional Support
• Advocacy (or someone to attend meetings with the family)
• Specialist Advice about their child’s condition
• Legal Advice

How can you help?

Please, if you offer support, of any description to families, please head over to Justice Together and sign up so families can find you.

Whether you offer support as an individual, a group, or a charity; whether you are free, charge by the hour or just require expenses to be covered, we would love to see you sign up.  It is free.

Keep up to date

BuT Site Admin

Debs is one of the co-founders and Directors of Bringing Us Together. She is mum to three child with a variety of SEND and has a great husband.