Vital information for parent-carers

The 200-plus page book provides parents and carers of children with special needs with information on a wide variety of topics including diagnosis, survival strategies, benefits and money matters, accessing support from education, health and social services, etc. It also contains a directory of over 400 local and national charities and an extensive jargon buster.

It may seem crazy but accessing information is one of the biggest challenges for parent-carers and has been a persistent problem right across West Sussex.

We’re therefore delighted that the book is reaching so many parents.

The guide has proved popular with parent-carers and the professionals who work with them. Caroline Martin of the Early Support project which specialises in working with under-fives with disabilities, said: “We’re thrilled our order helped the book reach this landmark. It’s a fantastic guide and so useful to practitioners as well as parents.”

It is also available to download for free as a PDF from the charity’s website, www.reachingfamilies.org.uk

Hard copies are also available to loan from every local library in West Sussex and every children and family centre.

Reaching Families was established by parent-carers to ‘empower, care for and inform parents and families of children with special needs in West Sussex’. The organisation achieves this through the delivery of counselling to parents and siblings, the delivery of training on a wide variety of workshops and through the publishing of its parent-carer guide, Making Sense Of It All.

For further information, please email [email protected]

BRIAN O’HAGAN

Project manager of Reaching Families and editor of the guide, Hurst Avenue, Worthing