What are Short Breaks?
Short Breaks are part of a continuum of services which support children in need and their families; primarily, children with disabilities. They include the provision of day, evening, overnight and weekend activities for the child, and can take place in the child’s own home, the home of an approved carer, or in a residential or community setting.
Short Break provision provides the opportunity for children to enjoy new experiences and develop relationships beyond the family as well as allows the child’s carer to gain a break from their caring obligations. This will normally mean the child and the main carer spending a short period away from each other, although some carers may prefer to gain a break without being in different location from the child.
Short Breaks occur on a regular and planned basis and should be part of an integrated programme of support which is regularly reviewed.
Who can access Short Breaks?
Short Breaks is a specialist social care service. They are provided to children with disabilities based on the impact of the child's disability on the family, rather than on a particular medical diagnosis. We take "children with disabilities" to mean those children who, at a minimum, have a condition which meets the definition of a disability in the Disability Discrimination Act.
The provision of Short Breaks is based on the assessment of the whole family addressing the child's developmental needs, parenting capacity, and family & environmental factors.
The Short Breaks Provision Matrix
The Short Breaks Provision Matrix sets out our offer to provide quality services fairly and equitably, minimising bureaucratic burden while ensuring that resources are made available to children and families with the greatest need for a service. It illustrates how as needs increase so will the levels of assessment, service provision, and safeguarding which are appropriate to the varying needs; in order to provide a proportionate response to ensure children are safeguarded effectively without unnecessary intrusion into family life.
Along the vertical axis is impact of disability and along the horizontal axis is level of service, assessment and safeguarding in provision. Children whose disability present a low impact on the family are able to access targeted support in the community, while those whose disability present a higher impact on the family are able to access more specialist services, subject to a proportionate system of assessment, planning and reviewing.
More Information
For more information, contact the Children’s Disability Team:
Children’s Disability Team
Life Chances Service
Coventry City Council
Ribble Road Offices
57 Ribble Road
Coventry
CV3 1AW
Tel: 024 7678 6087
Fax: 024 7644 8778
Email: Children'sDisabilityTeam@coventry.gov.uk
Developed by Coventry City Council and NHS Coventry in consultation with parents and carers of children and young people with disabilities in Coventry.
© 2008-2009 Coventry Children and Young People's Strategic Partnership.
Version 4.0 (27 November 2009)
