The Council’s aim is that disabled children and young people and their families have the support they need to be fully participating members of the Bolton family. For general information see the BIG Handbook in the Downloads section.
Disabled Children’s Services are based within Bolton’s Children’s Services Department and works with colleagues across health, education and social care to help disabled children have the best start in life and the ongoing support they and their families need to fulfill their potential.
Services can be provided from birth up to the age of 18 to young people who have a long term disability and whose care needs are significantly and consistently greater than children and young people of the same age.
Parents of disabled children are encouraged to register basic information about their child's needs on a database known as 'The Record'. This is used to inform future service development and also as a distribution list for the 'On the Record', newsletter. This details local events and developments as well as other items of interest and use to parents of young people with additional support needs.
The Children with Disabilities Team will assess and review the needs of children and their families and act as a link to other services, including transition support to help a young person and their parents to plan for adult life.
Once a child's needs have been assessed, family support services and or short breaks may be offered through BRIDGES, other provision, or where preferred a direct payment (this is a cash payment so that families can arrange their own support).
Bolton Short Breaks Services Statement 2011
Welcome to Bolton's first short breaks services statement. New regulations came into force in April 2011 which require each local authority to produce a short breaks statement and keep it under regular review. These regulations establish in law the local authority's duty to provide short breaks from caring to assist parents and others with parental responsibility who provide care for disabled children. You will find this document on the right hand side of this page in the Dowloads section.
What’s New?
BACPAC News
BACPAC (Bolton Area Council for Parents and Carers) is pleased to announce that it has been successful in obtaining a further grant from the Government of £10,000 to promote parent participation in improving local services for disabled children. They are now in the process of setting up four task groups and would be grateful if you could complete their online questionnaire with the aim of improving services in the areas of: Education, Transport, Transition and Leisure. You can find this questionnaire on BACPAC's website in the external links section of this page. Please note, the deadline for the questionnaire is the 17th February 2012.
Square Table Events
In Spring 2011, 37 unique events took place across England designed to deepen the level of shared understanding of children's palliative care. Each event brought together life limited and life threatened young people and their families, a range of health, education and social care professionals and providers as well as countless other representatives from across the community. The events were called 'Square Tables', symbolising the equal weight and importance of all participants' views. For more information please see the Downloads section on this page.
Bolton Information Guide
If you still haven't had your copy of the Bolton Information Guide please see the downloads section of this page or get in touch with your Parent's Information and Support Worker on 01204 337102
On The Record Newsletter
This edition focuses on ‘Being Healthy’ and has lots of information about health issues, including Healthy Eating, Tips for maintaining good oral health for children with Autism and much more. For more information please see the Downloads section on this page.
Grants for Disabled Children & Young People
In these difficult times we have been looking at ways that families can get additional forms of support, in terms of help from other organisations and charities. Many of you may already be aware of the types of help out there like the Family Fund which is also included on this website, but you may not be aware that there are many more other organisations too. For more information please click on the link for Grants for Disabled Children & Young People in our External links section.