Gloucestershire Parent Carer Forum was established in March 2019. The forum is run by a committee of volunteers and supported by our part time, term time only Forum Co-ordinator, Helen Bond.

“Gloucestershire Parent Carer Forum is a voice for those with lived experience of being a Parent Carer (This means parents and/or carers of children with any disability, SEN, condition, impairment or additional need). We can create a bridge to the providers of statutory services to help build better services for all families of disabled children in Gloucestershire.”

The Forum is part of the National Network of Parent Carer Forums which is supported by Contact and the Council for Disabled Children.

The Forum is newly launched and is establishing links with individual parent carers and the wide range of support groups for families of disabled children in Gloucestershire.

The Forum can bring the collective views of parent carers to meetings at which service providers are seeking to improve services or where the Forum as asked to meet regarding an important issue or problem.

The Forum has agreement from Gloucestershire County Council to work in strategic partnership to improve services and support development of future services.

The Forum brings together parent carers socially to support each other and to share their experiences, views and ideas.

The Forum is supported by a grant from the Department for Education but can assist with raising issues and improving services across Education, Health and Social Care.

The Forum cannot assist within individual complaints but can signpost families to relevant support services such as SENDIASS to try to resolve issues.

You can get involved in the following ways:

Sign up to the newsletter

Join the Gloucestershire Parent Carer Forum Discussion Group on Facebook (for Parent Carers only)

Get in touch: Send us an email or call/text 07494 704564 for more information

Let us know if you would like to offer your time in the following roles:

Committee Member – looking at next steps for the forum, supporting the Forum Coordinator in setting priorities

Social Meet Up Contacts – setting up (with help from the coordinator) a regular meet up in your area