DCATCH
Disabled Children’s Access to Childcare
Working with disabled children and their parents, the DCATCH project provides a fantastic opportunity to explore new and innovative ways of improving childcare services for disabled children and young people.
DCATCH Project Information
Nottinghamshire County Council has been awarded Aiming High Pathfinder status by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), and funding to support working parents of disabled children, and those attending a vocational training course or returning to work.
Working with disabled children and their parents, the DCATCH project provides a fantastic opportunity to explore new and innovative ways of improving childcare services for disabled children and young people.
Running until March 2011 the project aims to:
- offer an enhanced information and brokerage service and provide specialist support, (through the Families Information Service), from the first point of enquiry
- address the childcare needs of a small number of children and young people with severe and/or complex health care needs requiring individual care packages
- provide one to one support to address the individual childcare needs of older children/young people
Our draft eligibility criteria are available for comment under the ‘feedback’ tab and are also available from the Project Administrator. We are keen for as many parents and carers as possible to comment on the draft criteria before the final version is agreed in November. Throughout this process we will continue to address any families childcare needs.
Jo Willis (Lead Officer) continues to attend a wide number of groups. She has also begun the process of consulting with disabled children/young people and their families, and with professionals about the design and delivery of services. Jo is working closely with internal colleagues to look at linking service provision with a view to reduce the number of people working with children/young people. This will be an important part of her role throughout the life of the project.
Ruth Manterfield (Brokerage Manager) is based within the Families Information Service (FIS). She is currently working to enhance the information held by FIS on services for disabled children/young people and their families. Ruth is also working with the FIS officers to improve the support they give to families of disabled children/young people.
We continue to work closely with the Short Breaks Pathfinder team to improve services and develop co-ordinated pathways to provision for disabled children and young people.
Please do not hesitate to contact the project team if you have any questions or require further information.
**May Marketplace Events**
The DCATCH and Short Breaks Pathfinder teams held two Marketplace Events in May. A variety of organisations and groups who provide services for disabled children, young people and their families had stands at the event and provided information and advice.
The events took place at:-
Rushcliffe Arena,
Services attending the events included:-
Holiday and play opportunities
Youth & Leisure Services
Extended Services
Inclusion Support Services
Short Break opportunities
Childcare & Training Opportunities
Parent Groups and Support
FIS- Families Information Service
Photos from this event:
Feedback from Parent/Carer Events in March 2010
DCATCH and Short Breaks Projects held 3 events across the county to update parents/carers on the progress of the projects and our future plans.
We were very pleased with the attendance at these events which were active and informative. It was very valuable for us to gain the feedback and ongoing consultation with familes.
We have produced a feedback bulletin, which is available on the documents tab.
DCATCH Conference – Wednesday 25th November 2009
This conference held in London is where all the DCATCH project teams from around the country get together. We will be reporting on our progress and will gather feedback from the Together for Disabled Children Team.
Parent Partnership Conference - Wednesday 11th November 2009
Although the DCATCH staff are not attending this event, we have a display board at the conference and all our information, newsletters etc will be available. We understand that this event is more for professionals who we need to link to and keep informed.
October Half Term Events
During October half term, Jo and Ruth attended three events organised by the Short Breaks Pathfinder. Families of disabled children attended to gain an update on both pathfinder projects and to give their feedback. A report from the event will be posted when available.
Disability Nottinghamshire Expo
DCATCH representatives attended the Disability Nottinghamshire Health, Wellbeing, Disability and Caring Expo on Friday 23rd October 2009 at the Mansfield Civic Centre. This was a large event with stands from various organisations around the region. It was well attended by the public.
DCATCH Bulletin June/July 2010
Please click the link to view our updated bulletin. If you would like to comment on the content or the style of the bulletin please leave feedback. If you have any ideas on things that you would like to see in the bulletin, please get in touch.
DCATCH Bulletin June/July 2010
May Marketplace Events Flyer
Please click on the link to view the information flyer for the May Marketplace Events.
Feedback Bulletin from Parent/Carer Events in March
Please click on the link to view the feedback from the March Parent/Carer Events.
Feedback Bulletin from Parent/Carer Events
DCATCH Information Flyer
We have produced this flyer to give as much information to parents as we can, without making it too complicated. If you have any comments about this flyer, you can give feedback by clicking on the 'Feedback' tab.
Download DCATCH Information Flyer
Parent/Carer Events Registration Form
To register on one of the events, please print, complete and return the Registration Form
Parent/Carer Registration Form
DCATCH Bulletin - January 2010
We have prepared a January Bulletin to update people on the progress of the project. Please click on the link to view the Bulletin.
Download January 2010 Bulletin
Finalised Eligibility Criteria
After extensive consultation, our eligibility criteria is now finalised. Please click on the link to view the criteria.
Download the eligibility criteria
Pathway Document
We are working with two specific groups of children/young people:- those with complex and severe health needs who are not able to access group childcare and older disabled children/young people who are perhaps a bit too old to use the sort of out of school clubs that younger children use. We have created a diagram to show how these children/young people might enter the project and what will happen to them when they do. It shows the link with our Brokerage Manager whose job it is to meet with the families to discuss and arrange a suitable childcare package.
Download the Pathway document (PDF)
Structure Diagram
This is a flowchart that aims to show how the project fits together and how we link with the Short Breaks pathfinder project. Both these projects are dealing with a similar group of children/young people so we work together as much as we can to make sure that we don’t duplicate work and can provide the best service for families.
Download the DCATCH Structure Diagram (PDF)
Project Plan
This document is the overall plan of the project that we had to submit to the funding body to explain what we are going to do and how we are going to do it. It gives a detailed description of our aims and objectives and how we will measure our success.
Download the Project Plan document (PDF)
DCATCH Feedback
This section gives you the opportunity to give your comments on our work. For example, we produce various documents, leaflets and questionnaires for families to either give them information about the project, or to gather information about the family which is needed for the project. This is where we will post these documents for parents/carers to look at and comment on. We want our documentation to be easy to understand. We don’t want to confuse people or add to their stress by asking them too many questions!
It is very valuable for us to read your comments and incorporate them into our work, so please add anything you would like to say to the discussion.
DCATCH Virtual Network
The DCATCH Virtual Network has been established to ensure ongoing consultation with families on a variety of issues.
Find out more & provide feedback
DCATCH Information Flyer
We have produced this flyer to give as much information to parents as we can, without making it too complicated.
Find out more & provide feedback
Eligibility Criteria
The very first thing that we needed to do when we started the project was to put together a set of criteria for the type of children/young people that we needed to help. Because we are looking at two specific groups, we have two documents. These are very similar, but show the differences between our two target groups
New DCATCH Bulletin for June/July 2010
We have updated our bulletin for the summer. Please click on the documents tab to view.
**May Marketplace Events**
Two exciting events for families of disabled children/young people! Take a look under the Events tab
Feedback from Parent/Carer Events in March 2010
Feedback is available from the 3 events that we held in March. Please have look under the Events tab for details.
Updated January Bulletin available
Our January bulletin is now available under the 'documents' section.
Eligibility Criteria finalised!
After consultation with parent groups and professionals, we have finalised the Eligibility Criteria for the project. This can be viewed under the 'documents' tab.
DCATCH at the Nottingham expo
The DCATCH project and the Short Breaks Project will have a joint stand at the Disability Nottinghamshire Health, Wellbeing, Disability and Caring Expo on Friday 23rd October 2009. This is a free public event being held at the Mansfield Civic Centre.
Eligibility Criteria
Our draft Eligibility Criteria is available for comment on the ‘feedback’ tab. Please have a look and leave your comment
Newsletter
In September 2009 Short Breaks and DCATCH published their first joint newsletter ‘Aim High’. This explains a little about both projects and their aims. The next issue will be due out in the New Year.
Download the DCATCH September 2009 Newsletter
Contact DCATCH
Office Contact
Telephone: 01623 520071
Fax: 01623 520069
Email: ahdcpathfinder@nottscc.gov.uk
Staff Contact
Lead Officer – Jo Willis 0791 7551381
Brokerage Manager – Ruth Manterfield 07725 151006
Project Administrator - Kate Harrall 01623 520071
