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We have identified five clear areas where Government action is needed in order to transform the lives of disabled children and young people.
Kids has over 50 years on the ground experience working alongside disabled children, young people and their families, providing support, advice and information from birth to 25, whatever their disability.
Our ambition is for every disabled child or young person to meet their own potential. We believe that the right support and a range of opportunities need to be in place to ensure that every individual can thrive.
This means that learning, play and social opportunities are available from the early years through to adulthood, supporting disabled children and young people’s development and wellbeing. It means families aren’t having to fight to get the help their children need and it means the views of disabled children and young people are at the heart of all decisions made about them – at individual, service and policy levels.
To make this a reality and transform the lives of disabled children and young people, we have identified five clear areas of action where Government action is needed.
It is vital that babies and young children with SEND have access to quality early years support. Our experience shows when you get this right it can be life-changing. All too often children with SEND are not able to access the right early years provision. Alarmingly only 6% of Local Authorities in England have enough childcare places for disabled children.
The Government must ensure that the childcare expansion doesn’t further exclude children with SEND from early years settings.
The complex health, care and education system makes it challenging for parents to get the right help for their child.
Kids has pioneered the SEND Community Navigator model to provide a single point of contact for rounded support and guidance to ease the burden on families. Our Navigators support parents with crucial aspects of parenting, from establishing routines to nurturing emotional wellbeing.
We recommend that the Government provides a Navigator to every family with a disabled child.
It’s vital children with SEND can attend after-school clubs and holiday clubs, and participate in local activities or other hobbies. This helps them to make friends, supports their development by exposing them to new experiences, and promotes wellbeing. It can also help support them to access and stay in formal education.
Local authorities and local providers must ensure that activities are inclusive. Every child with SEND should be able to access activities in the community in the same way as other children.
The existing challenges faced by young people with SEND are further exacerbated by a profoundly inadequate system of transition support in England. It’s too hard to find information about options for the future, leaves young people waiting without the vital support they need, and too often fails to meaningfully include them in society.
The Government must step up and demonstrate action on a national level to fix the disjointed transition support system.
Children and young people with SEND need to be at the heart of decisions made about them, whether that’s at an individual level, service level or strategic/policy level. They are the ones that understand their needs the best and they have the right to shape the decisions that affect them.
Every local authority needs to ensure that participation of young disabled people in local decisions that affect them becomes routine.
If every child matters, then money must be found to make the rights of disabled children a reality.
Kids Chief Executive Katie Ghose's thoughts on long-term opportunities and immediate fixes
Our report documents the experience of young people with SEND as they move from childhood into adulthood.
Coram Family and Childcare released the Childcare Survey 2024 results. Read our response.
Once again over 1 in 10 of the UK’s children have gone unseen and unheard. Read our response to the Spring Budget.
The Government has released its long-awaited Disability Action Plan. Read our response.
Find out where Government action is needed to transform the lives of disabled children and young people.
We believe it’s vital that babies and young children with SEND have access to quality early years support. Read more.
The Government's Plan does not begin to match up to the scale of the challenges. Read our full response.
The Government’s decision to increase benefits in line with inflation will provide some relief to families of disabled children currently struggling to cover daily costs.
Kids CEO Katie Ghose shares three ways the charity sector can adapt to unprecedented economic changes.
The current education and support system for children and young people with SEND does not work. The Government needs to build on the SEND reforms of 2014, but this time reforms should be resourced, implemented and enforced.
Chief Executive Katie Ghose reflects on the Government's SEND review, identifying three areas of interest for Kids.
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