The Early Support Wales website (www.earlysupportwales.org.uk) is currently under development. In the meantime you can view more information about the development of the Early Support programme in Wales here.
Early Support is the Welsh Assembly Government funded programme to improve the delivery of services to disabled children under 5 and their families. It builds on work carried out in England over the last 5 years, where Early Support is well-established in many local authorities. Children in Wales and a wide range of voluntary sector and other partners have been tasked by the Welsh Assembly Government to implement Early Support in Wales.
Parents have consistently reported a lack of co-ordination in services, where separate systems operating in the statutory agencies positively stand in the way of parents receiving a joined up service. Parents sometimes feel that they have to fight the system to ensure that their family gets the support they need early on – they end up having to act as the main point of contact, coordinating the services that are there to assist them.. Early Support aims to ensure that services are better coordinated, with a single point of contact, working in a family and child focused way, in partnership with parents and carers.
Early Support has developed a range of resources and training aimed at bringing service providers together and put the family at the centre of the process. Early Support materials have been developed to help families and professionals move out of a model of crisis intervention and bring an element of planning into the lives of families with young disabled children. The materials include:
The resources and the training programmes were developed in England and have been reviewed and developed to fit the Welsh context. All the materials will be available through the medium of Welsh. A large proportion of the materials, including the Family file, will be ready and available by the end of September 2009, when the programme is formally launched in Wales.
The materials are not, however, the intervention and Early Support principles and approaches will be gradually introduced in Wales, with the support of Early Support consultants working closely with all partners across Wales. For information about how to contact your Early Support Consultant please contact Kathy Beach, Early Support Administrator.
Early Support training will be free in its initial phase and the Early Support training team will support local areas to build their own capacity to deliver the training.
For more information contact: Kathy Beach, Early Support Administrator, Children in Wales, Tel: 029 2034 2434, E-mail: kathryn.beach@childreninwales.org.uk
Introduction to Early Support Presentation
Presentations from the National Launch of Early Support - 29th September 2009, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Background Information on Early Support