15 - Funding success for Dudley disabled children

 

Over three years the funding from the Pathfinder programme will enable Dudley Council, together with the Primary Care Trust, to enhance the services they currently provide for disabled children. 

 

There will be an increase of respite care provided through short breaks giving disabled children and young people the opportunity to gain valuable experiences away from their parents and carers.  This will also give families the chance to take a well-earned break from caring.  

 

Nationally twenty-one local authorities have been successful in becoming Pathfinders with Dudley and Telford being the only two to be granted the status in the West Midlands.  The Aiming High for Disabled Children review by the Department of Health and the Department for Children, Schools and Families found that short breaks are seen as the highest priority service for families with disabled children. ‘Aiming High for Disabled Children’ will deliver a total of £430 million plus in new investment in disabled children’s services during 2008-11.

 

“I am extremely pleased that Dudley has been successful in their bid to become a Pathfinder.  This will enable us to enhance the short breaks facilities we currently provide to disabled children and their families across the borough.”

 

“This is excellent news for disabled children in Dudley and their parents. I am delighted that the intensive work by colleagues in the Council and the Primary Care Trust has been rewarded in this way.”