Campaigns

Postcard lobbying campaign
Future funding of services for children and young people with additional support needs.

The Children’s Forum recognises that Highland Council is facing severe financial challenges when constructing its budget for the coming financial years. However the Forum is determined that the scale of the need of the children and young people that we represent will be made clear to Councillors.

If undue cuts are forced through now there will be:

• poorer outcomes for young people

• additional long term care and support costs

Additional Support Needs can mean short term support for a child or young person to help them over a specific difficulty or long term support with a profound challenge. Any person may need such support during their time in education.

These cuts will affect your child or young person and your family.

Help make the voice of children and young people heard

The most effective pressure on Councillors will come from direct approaches from individuals and families who are their constituents.

You understand the likely effect of these cuts in services on the future of your children and young people.

The Forum is appealing to parents and carers to give whatever energy that they can spare to persuading Councillors to protect services to children and young people with additional support needs.

The Council is operating a blog site at:

www.highland.gov.uk/yourcouncil/news/blog

This blog has preset topics for fixed time periods. Education is set to run to 19th May.

The Forum believes that the Councillors must give greater consideration of the specific needs of children and young people with additional needs than the blog allows.

The Forum is organising a postcard and letter writing lobbying campaign. The Forum is offering specially prepared postcards that can be sent to Councillors to alert them to the concerns of the community about the effect of cuts on services for children and young people.

The postcards ask Councillors to respond to the sender with details of the actions that they will take to protect services. The Forum has been advised that the physical presence of lobbying materials from concerned constituents best concentrates the mind of Councillors on the problem - “hard copy” is very effective and less easily ignored or as quickly “deleted” as E mail can be. At the moment many interest groups are lobbying Councillors to attempt to make their case for their sector’s needs. Historically the voice of children and young people with additional needs and that of their parents and carers has been very quiet. Care responsibilities do not necessarily leave a great deal of energy for campaigning!

The Forum is urging parents and carers to send these postcards to their local Councillors and to encourage family and friends to join in – more copies can be made available if you need them.

Details of who your local Councillors are can be found on the Highland Council website at:

www.highland.gov.uk/yourcouncil/yourcouncillors/councillorscontactdetails/

• Each Council ward can have up to 4 Councillors and you can lobby all of them.

• Write the name of the Councillor on the front of the card in the address section and your contact details on the reverse and then sign and date the card.

• We suggest that you send the cards in a single envelope to the Council Headquarters. Their internal mail service will deliver them to the Councillors.

• Up to 8 postcards can be sent in a single C5 envelope for the cost of a single 1st or 2nd class postage stamp.

Copies of the postcard can be made available:

to you.

for family members,

your friends,

your neighbours,

Carers’ groups,

community or action groups,

school boards.

Contact cuts@highlandchildrensforum.org to get a supply telling us how many that you need.

Alternatively use the text in a letter adding in your personal comments, experience and concerns. Download the text here.

The Forum would welcome a copy of the response that you get from your Councillors. We will collate these and use them in campaigning.

Join this campaign and make the voice of children and young people with additional needs heard by Highland Councillors!

Answer machine on 01463 223000 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 01463 223000 end_of_the_skype_highlighting cuts@highlandchildrensforum.org