Family Days
A story by Parents Inclusion Network
We provided Family Day Activities for children with disabilities and their families, promoting access to a range of local sport and leisure activities that they would not have otherwise had the confidence to access.
What Family Days did
We have recruited a range of volunteers and two part time coordinators. We advertised to our membership of 595 in our bi-monthly newsletters, we also used social media and our website.
We organised thirty events, these have been a range of activities including, local museums, crafts, soft play, farm parks. Sports such as golf, fishing, horse riding, sailing, forestry/orienteering. Local visitor attractions including the chocolate factory and Drumlanrig Estate.
2240 people attended these sessions, including the children themselves, their siblings and their families. The whole family could access any, some or all of our activities. This promoted a safe meeting place for parents and allowed whole families to make chocolate, climb hills, fish, sail, make flowers and play in a safe environment.
What Parents Inclusion Network has learned
Word of mouth has gone a long way to giving us new members, parents talk whether that is at the school gates, children's parties or the local shop. This has lead to more and more parents becoming members and continuing to promote us amongst each other.
Secondly our professional reputation is outstanding and this has increased the number of referrals we get via Social Services and Health. The fund has allowed us to organised a range of activities, across the region to suit children from a broad range of ages and with a broad spectrum of disabilities.
An unexpected challenge this year has been the sheer number of people who have attended our activities. We are running out of space! Some of the venues we book are now being filled to capacity and we may need to book the same event twice in the future.