By Mencap
Pears Foundation has committed a further £200,000 in funding to support our family-led engagement programme in Newham
Mencap, with support from Pears Foundation, launched our family-led engagement programme in the London Borough Newham in 2019 and it has been going from strength to strength ever since. Through our valued, long-standing partnership with Pears Foundation, we have made a transformative impact on many lives, supporting over 2,022 parents and carers of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
This additional funding will help us build on the learning we’ve already made in Newham and strengthen our early support for families of children aged 0-5. Over the next two years, we want to create lasting improvements across local systems in Newham, so that many more families feel less alone, more confident, and better connected to the services they need in the community A community is the people and places in an area. .
Bringing families together to support each other
Parents and carers of often face huge barriers, from long waits for diagnosis A diagnosis is when a medical professional like a doctor has said you have a certain illness or condition. to delays accessing services. From coffee morning groups or an online support, we know that families feel stronger when they can talk to others who truly understand their challenges, hopes, and the journey they’re on.
At the heart of our service is our Family Connectors. They are local parents with lived experience Experience is when you have learned or tried something before. of bringing up a child with a learning disability A learning disability is to do with the way someone's brain works. It makes it harder for someone to learn, understand or do things. . They reach out to families, connect them to support and services available locally, as well as provide the friendship and emotional support that so many desperately need.
We have recruited eight Family Connectors who are fluent in Arabic, Bengali and/or Urdu, to provide culturally informed outreach and translation support, ensuring all families feel seen, heard, and supported in the community.
| “Thank you for being so relatable and for your genuine willingness to help...you truly have no idea how much this means to me." - Parent |
| “Excellent support service and so needed. Really helped my emotional wellbeing as I feel alone and isolated at times. I don't really have people to help me with advice etc. This helps me to feel part of a community and feel connected to others with similar experiences.” - Parent |
Support from Pears Foundation will enable us to:
- Expand our network of parents and carers of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities aged 0-5 in Newham.
- Deliver coffee‑morning groups, SEND awareness sessions, and play activities with libraries and nurseries as well as upskilling workshops on topics like applying for Education, Health and Care Plans.
- Work closely with local services and decision-makers to create co-production opportunities and events where families can shape and influence the early intervention support available locally.
- Run our eight‑week Early Positive Approach to Support (E-PAtS) courses to extend our reach to more parents and carers who need support to prevent problems from arising in areas of their child’s development, such as sleeping, communication, and behaviour, including a module on self-care
“Through our conversations with families, many of whom have faced long waits for diagnoses or struggled to find the right support, we’ve seen how discovering Mencap can truly lift a weight off their shoulders. Thanks to the wonderful support from the Pears Foundation, we’re able to continue helping families at every step, giving them the confidence to speak up for change and find their way through the system, so every child can get the best possible start in life.” - Ieva Jupe, Family Engagement Partner, London Borough of Newham
With the launch of our new five-year
strategy
A strategy is a plan to show what an organisation, or a person, wants to do and how they are going to do it.
, Mencap 2030, families will play a vital role in driving forward our vision in communities. By 2030, we will add 10 more family connectors to strengthen our targeted family support in communities across the UK. Over the years, we have expanded our programme in Newham into other local areas, in Tameside, Anglesey, and including a new pilot in Bradford.
We are deeply grateful to Pears Foundation for their continuous commitment to supporting families and children with a learning disability in communities. Their incredible support ensures that all families can access high-quality information, and valuable peer support during the early years of their child’s life.
Everything we have achieved through this programme wouldn’t have been possible without their generosity, investment and belief in our vital work at Mencap. Together, we’re building fairer, stronger support systems and improving outcomes for children with a learning disability, for now and generations to come.
If you would like to find out more about our programme and would like to support our work, please email [email protected] for further information.
Jon Sparkes OBE