Parents of children and young people with additional support needs who have struggled to find assistance and advice will now benefit from a new map of services which covers all of Scotland and allows them to pinpoint exactly what is in their area.

http://enquire.org.uk/find-a-service

The development of the map was one of 21 recommendations from the strategic review of learning provision for children and young people with complex additional support needs. The final report  from the review, The Right Help at the right time and right place, published in November 2012, highlighted the “fight” some parents faced to obtain help and advice.

The map, which features 20 different categories of 1,000 education, access to education and family support services, has been put together and will be maintained by Enquire. Sally Cavers, Enquire’s manager, explains a bit more about the resource:

“We were delighted to support and now deliver on this recommendation from the Doran review and have used our experience and knowledge to pull together and collate this information for parents across Scotland. We hope this map of services saves parents time, presents key information in a clear way and becomes a very well used resource for everyone supporting children with additional support needs”.

Teresa Catto, a parent from Edinburgh and founder of Autism in Scotland, a forum for parents and carers of children with autism, explains why the resource will help:

“Parents are often bewildered by the new world they find themselves in when they have a child or young adult with additional support needs.  A central information point will be incredibly useful and will increase how empowered parents feel. I will definitely be recommending the ‘find a service’ database put together by Enquire to the parents I support across Scotland.”

Magali Redding, from Eczema Outreach Scotland, one of the services featured on the map reiterates these thoughts:

“As the Scottish charity for families of children with eczema, we welcome the launch of this new resource for families and students. Too many families still struggle to access adequate education for their child because of their condition and its impact on their school life. In many cases, information and support from a specialised voluntary organisation or public service will empower families to improve the child’s schooling experience greatly and make a long-term difference. A central place to search for support in this field will be extremely useful to all parents, carers and young people looking for some practical advice.” www.eczemaoutreachscotland.org.uk

To find our more about progress on the other recommendations from the Doran Review, visit the Scottish Government website