MEMBERSHIP

A Message From Vanessa Moore - Parent Particpation Director WFPF

In January 2008, at the first meeting of WFPF I volunteered to help set up the group. Little did I know what I would be getting in to!

From the beginning I was surprised by the number of people who turned up to forum meetings and the passion and committment they had to try to change the services our disabled children and young people access in the borough. As a mum to a little girl with complex issues I had experienced many of the problems raised by other parents and carers in acccessing services for their children and hoped that with a collective voice we would be able to bring about change.

With the help of other forum members I was able to make links to key service providers in the borough and soon invites to meetings came rolling in. I have been encouraged by the willingness in the borough to embrace parent participation and believe that working with service providers is essential to both improve services and raise awareness of unmet needs.

In the first year membership of WFPF grew so quickly we had to find funding to sustain the group and put in place structures to support a growing organisation. In the second year our membership doubled and this time we needed to find office space as we could no longer run the group from our own homes. Over the past three years it has been a rollercoaster ride in establishing the forum but as we start 2011 I am amazed and proud of how our forum has developed. We are now involved in many important consultations in the borough, provide a support group and many other activities which support familes with disabled children and young people. Every week we make new contacts not only in the borough but throughout the country, where we are able to make the views of parents and carers of disabled children and young people heard.We hope in 2011 to expand this work even further!

All of the work you see described in these web pages has been carried out by WFPF members (including setting up and updating the website itself), using skills that they already have or by learning them along the way. I believe that WFPF has made great progress in starting a dialogue with service providers in the borough about the future of services for disabled children and young people and hope that parents and carers looking at our website will be encouraged and inspired by our work.

Please join us to add your voice. We have many ambitious plans to implement over the next year and need more parents and carers to help. WFPF is also a great place to meet other parents and carers in the same situation and I have made many new friends and learned so much from their experiences, which has been invaluable.

I hope to welcome you as a member soon.

Vanessa Moore

A Message From Carol Prideaux - Parent Particpation Director WFPF

I have two children aged 13 and 16. My youngest child has severe ASD and is non verbal. He is also epileptic and although this had been under control through medication, it has recently become more prevalent, resulting in more frequent hospital appointments. In my pre autism life I taught in primary schools in Newham for 12 years and came across many parents who struggled to access appropriate educational resources for their children.

In 2008 I was invited to attend the initial meeting for parents in Waltham Forest and agreed to become Secretary. That quickly became Co Chair and now Parent Participation Director.

During the short time we have existed we have achieved a great deal but there is so much more to do.

Carol Prideaux