Getting it right in the early years
The Government must ensure that the childcare expansion doesn’t further exclude children with SEND from early years settings.
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Kids has over 50 years on-the-ground experience working alongside children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and their families, providing support, advice and information.
Working with children and young people of all disabilities from birth to the age of 25, we hear the same story of hard-to-access, inconsistent and often inadequate support services. Stark, structural inequalities of access, opportunity and outcome mean that rights are not being realised. Voices, knowledge and expertise are marginalised or ignored.
This is why policy and advocacy are a core part of Kids work.
Our ambition is for every child or young person with SEND to meet their own potential. We believe that the right support and a range of opportunities need to be in place to ensure that every individual can thrive.
We turn practical expertise and trusted relationships with families into advocacy. By putting the voice of those with lived experience at the heart of driving essential systemic change, better access to services, consistency and outcomes are achievable.
Our Manifesto for Change outlines five clear areas where Government action is needed in order to transform the lives of disabled children and young people.
The Government must ensure that the childcare expansion doesn’t further exclude children with SEND from early years settings.
We recommend that the Government provides a Navigator to every family with a disabled child.
The Government must step up and demonstrate action on a national level to fix the disjointed transition support system.
Every child with SEND should be able to access activities in the community in the same way as other children.
Every local authority should ensure participation of young disabled people in local decisions that affect them becomes routine.
We collaborate widely to amplify the voices of children and young people with SEND, directly advocating to MPs, advisers and service commissioners.
To effectively champion the voices of those we work with, we play an active role in national partnership, as part of:
“Kids has given me a chance to not only speak about me, my experiences but also to represent the views of other young people with disabilities.
“I have been involved in helping OFSTED and CQC redesign their inspection framework, helping Kids develop their future plans and strategy and speaking to the SEND All Party Parliamentary Group about my experiences during lockdown.
“I use an eye gazer to communicate and this can be a barrier but Kids works with me to ensure my voice can be heard.”
Jimmy, 24