For Scotland’s Disabled Children coalition has been in existence since 2007. The Coalition campaigns on rights and justice for disabled children, young people and their families in Scotland by bringing together parents and not-for-profit organisations. Four key disability charities working in Scotland (Contact a Family Scotland, CCNUK Scotland, Capability Scotland and Family Fund) came together to form a campaign along the lines of that in England, “Every Disabled Child Matters”. Soon a Coalition of organisations was in place, facilitating a collective voice for Scottish disability organisations.
FSDC aims to ensure that Scotland’s disabled children are central to new policy and action, to see the good intentions of Government translated into better lives for Disabled children and their families in Scotland.
The work included the Liaison project, Diary project, Parent Participation project, and Setting the Scene. The work within Setting the Scene had not been done before, which presented a Scotland-wide picture of disabled children, including numbers, services, educational provision, strategies, plans and outcomes and how services are configured, read How we Set the Scene.
In October 2013 we held our conference with parents, colleagues from organisations in the third and public sector to establish the continuation of fSDC Coalition and it aims for the next 3 years.
The Coordination Group held a meeting on 18th November 2013 in Edinburgh and approved our Terms of Reference. A note of the Meeting is here.The Terms of Reference are under review and will be updated for 2017-18.
In 2013-2015 the Scottish Government supported our work to continue liaising and consulting with parents through our Parent Participation project. Hosted by Children in Scotland, fSDC co-ordination group members worked in partnership on the parent participation project.
In 2014-2015 ten members from the Coalition continued the work of previous members and established the present co-ordination group and refreshed our terms of reference. Members of the group influence a number of policy and legislation government groups including the Disabled Children and Young People’s Advisory Group, the Advisory Group for Additional Support for Learning.
Parent participation is integral to the work of the Coalition and in understanding the issues, challenges and positives that parents meet in everyday life bringing up their children. Scottish Government has supported fSDC projects in 2016 – 2017 aiming to develop parent participation in Scotland. Local and national member organisations are working with parents to pilot the West Lothian Parent Engagement Forum.
