Mencap's response to (DCSF) Transforming short breaks for families with disabled children

Wednesday 16 January 2008

Mencap's response to (DCSF) Transforming short breaks for families with disabled children.

Dame Jo Williams, chief executive of Mencap, said:
"This announcement of short breaks for disabled children is a positive move for families with a disabled child. Many families who care for children or adults with severe, profound and multiple learning disabilities get no short breaks at all.

"The main priority now is that these pathfinder authorities set up good short break services as a matter of urgency in order to enable families to go on caring. Mencap's Breaking Point report found that 8 out of 10 families who are caring for somebody with a learning disability said that they had reached Breaking Point and felt they could not cope anymore. It is essential that the funding for the short break services for families with disabled children paves the way for breaks for families with an adult son or daughter, who also need breaks from a lifetime of caring."