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National Children's Bureau
8 Wakley Street
London EC1V 7QE
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MPs challenged to make disabled children matter
Media Release - For immediate release
For media enquiries, copies of the Bill and accompanying briefing, contact: Jaine Barry, 020 7696 5603, [email protected]
MPs challenged to make disabled children matter
Campaign calls for all backbench MPs to get behind the Disabled Children (Family Support) Bill for its vital Second Reading
MPs are being challenged to show their support for families with disabled children, by attending the vital Second Reading of the Disabled Children (Family Support Bill). If the Bill became law, it would create new rights to short breaks from caring for 100,000 families with severely disabled children.
The need for the Bill was highlighted by a recent Breaking Point survey by Mencap*, which found that 8 out of 10 carers of disabled children have felt close to, or reached, breaking point because of a lack of support. The same survey found that a third of families had experienced a reduction in the level of short break care they receive during the past year.
The Every Disabled Child Matters campaign has heard from hundreds of families who are desperate for short breaks. These families include Angela who explains what it meant to her to finally get that break: 'It’s because I love my child that I want a break - either that or I’d have crumbled. Because I get that break from doing everything for Conor, it gives me time to be a proper Mum to both Conor and his brother Thomas.'
Gary Streeter MP (Cons, Devon SW), is leading the Bill, working alongside a group of backbench MPs from all parties. He said: 'All MPs receive visits from parents and carers of disabled children in our surgeries seeking help to get a short break from their 24/7 caring for their loved one. Yet all too often there is no respite care available. I believe we can and must do better than that and this Bill will try and fill the gap. I strongly support the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign.'
Alongside MPs, the Bill is supported by more that 50 organisations, including the Trade Union Congress, the Disability Rights Commission, Carers UK and many of the major children’s and disability charities. Over 15,000 individuals have signed up to show their support for the Bill and the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign.
Running in parallel to the Bill is a government review of services for disabled children, which has the Treasury working in partnership with the Department for Education and Skills.
Dame Jo Williams, Chief Executive of Mencap, one of the partners in the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign, says: 'The Every Disabled Child Matters campaign estimates that delivering the new rights to families with disabled children contained in the Bill would cost between £150 and £200 million - or £2,000 per child. Yet it can cost over 100 times this amount to place a single child in residential care, as a result of family breakdown. Investing in short breaks makes financial sense, and the moral case for providing better support for families is overwhelming. We are urging every MP to listen to the families in their constituencies, get behind our Bill and attend the Second Reading debate on Friday 23 February.'
-Ends-
For media enquiries and copies of the Bill and accompanying briefing, please contact Jaine Barry in the Mencap Press Office on: 0207 696 5603
Every Disabled Child Matters is a campaign by four organisations working with disabled children and their families: Contact a Family, Council for Disabled Children, Mencap and the Special Educational Consortium. It is a three-year campaign funded by a grant from the True Colours Trust, a Sainsbury’s family trust.
The Disabled Children (Family Support) Bill covers England and Wales. If it became law, it would:
- impose specific duties on local authorities and health agencies to provide short breaks for families who provide a substantial level of care on a regular basis.
- amend the recent Childcare Act to require local authorities to secure a sufficient supply of short breaks in their area.
- require the breaks offered to families to be of positive benefit for the child and their carers, to safeguard against low quality breaks
* Mencap’s Breaking Point - families still need a break survey was carried out between May and July 2006. 353 families from six areas of England and in Northern Ireland took part. The 2006 survey followed up on themes and issues identified in a 2003 survey. The 2006 survey focused on the impact of lack of services and the quality of short break services. The report is available in its entirety at www.mencap.org.uk/breakingpoint
More from EDCM
Download more information on the Disabled Children (Family Support) Bill
