News and Events

Good News for Family Support Services!
 

As mentioned on the homepage, we are delighted to be able to tell you that our funding problem has been solved until the end of March thanks to Kent and Medway Councils, who have agreed to fund the Family Support Service (with slight changes) until then. Many thanks to everyone for your fantastic support in helping us to achieve this. Many of you spent considerable time and effort and we are very grateful. Over the next few months Kent and Medway will decide what services they would like to commission for Autism and we expect these to be put out to public tender. In the meantime, we can continue to give support to families will continue as we outline below.

There are estimated to be around 1 in a 100 people affected by ASC which means around 14,000 people and their families may be affected in Kent and Medway.  Pressure from Government and parent groups is ever increasing and local authorities will need to show that they are providing support services for people with ASC and their families. Our service is of great benefit to the local population.

The Kent Autistic Trust Family Support service provides a knowledgeable source of information, advice and support to families and carers of children and adults with ASC across Kent and Medway and to adults with ASC themselves. We do this through email and telephone contact, face to face meetings and support groups.

Families with a family Member with ASC are often under considerable stress because of:

  • Difficulty obtaining, understanding and coming to terms with diagnosis
  • Not knowing where to go for information
  • Difficulty obtaining appropriate help
  • Lack of a knowledgeable support network for help and advice 

We work throughout Kent and because of this we are able to distribute information widely.

There are currently 2,483 families on our database and we provide around 1,000 families with information by email on a very regular (often daily) basis. Over the past 3 years we have held over 1,000 face to face meetings with parents/carers/people with ASC to give more in-depth support.

Families contact us for help across a wide range of areas including;

  • Diagnosis and advice post diagnosis
  • Help with behaviour
  • Guidance on accessing benefits
  • Assistance in obtaining education and further education
  • Supporting the transition from school to adult life

We help parents/carers people with ASC to liaise with Health, Education and Social Services and have established & maintained good working relationships with these agencies.

The numerous of contacts we have with parents - on average 52 each week including face to face meetings - show that our Family Support Service is needed and valued.

Thank for to everyone for enabling us to provide a local service for people on the Autism Spectrum and their families.

 

 

New Groups

New groups for adults are planned to be started around Kent in the near future. If you want to start a group tell us about it and we can help, if you have a group and would like someone to come to see you contact Des.

 

New Booklet

There is now an excellent new booklet for parents produced by the DfES in conjunction with autism charities. It is aimed at parents/carers of younger children but could be useful at any age especially if your child has recently been diagnosed. The title is “Information for Parents. Autistic spectrum disorders and related conditions”. (Ref. ESPP12) To get a copy phone DfES publications: 0845 602 2260 or email: dfes@prolog.uk.com