Disabled Children's Service

The Disabled Children’s Service is based at the Croft Centre.

The Croft Centre is a one-stop shop for disabled children and their families. It also houses the Portage Service, Parent Partnership, early years advisers, paediatricians, therapists and a local voluntary agency - the Three Wings Trust. Windham Nursery School is on the same site.

Who is in the Disabled Children's Service?

• The Social Work Team for Disabled Children
• The Short Break Care Team
• Outreach services - Crofters, Transition and an Outreach worker

Social Work Team

The Social Work Team for Disabled Children is a specialised multi-disciplinary team. We provide advice, assistance and support to families with a child or young person who has a significant and permanent disability. You can contact us by telephone, email, letter or in person at the Croft Centre. Advice is available 9.00am to 5.15pm Monday to Thursday and 9.00am to 5.00pm on Friday. There is a duty social worker and full-time administrative support available to answer your queries. GPs, health visitors, school staff or families can make a referral to the service.

Occupational Therapy

An Occupational Therapist is based in the Disabled Children’s Team; she provides comprehensive assessments and recommendations to solve practical problems encountered by disabled children and young people (0 to 18 years) and their families to maintain independence at home. The service aims to improve the quality of life and assist the daily management of disability at home, taking into account the need for a normal family life.

Short Break Care Team

This is a small team of social workers who recruit, approve and support befrienders and Family Link carers. When a care plan has been completed, a referral is made to the Short Break Care Team. They visit parents or carers at home to talk about the short break care schemes and help to introduce suitable carers to the children.

Befriender Scheme

The Befriender Scheme offers children and young people opportunities to access leisure activities out in the community. Befrienders are recruited by the short break care social workers and receive regular supervision and training. They are a skilled resource and work in partnership with families. The number of sessions to be provided by a befriender is agreed by the Service Manager for Disabled Children.

Outreach Services

Crofters offers a range of clubs and schemes for disabled children and young people throughout the year, including weekly after-school clubs, weekend clubs and play schemes during school holidays. There is a high demand for places at Crofters and we try to allocate spaces as fairly as possible. The Croft Centre Activities Coordinator also organises residential weekends and holidays for children when funding is available.

A transition support worker offers breaks to parents and carers of young people who are 14 to 25 years old. She works closely with the Crofters staff and organises a wide variety of events, outings and some residential holidays. She has close links with the borough’s Youth Service and other staff such as Connexions workers and the Transition Coordinator based in Adult Social Services.

An outreach worker is based at the Croft Centre. She works mostly with pre-school children who have additional needs. She visits children at home to help them develop play skills and to support their parents or carers. She also offers baby massage classes and runs group sessions with other professionals.