Disability Toolkit

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Our Projects

The Children's Society has fourteen projects that provide specific services for disabled children, including advocacy, communication assistance, participation and early intervention.

Through all of our projects, we ensure that individual disabled children and young people are given a voice in the decisions that affect them, now and in the future. We also campaign for government and society to recognise that all disabled children and young people have a right to be heard and do not suffer injustice in silence.

To find out more about each project's work, or contact the project directly click on the project name. You can also visit www.childrenssociety.org.uk to find out more.

Champion for Disabled Children and Young People

Birmingham
This project focuses on the process of engagement and participation with disabled children and young people for all agencies across Birmingham. The Disabled Children’s Champion is responsible for developing, applying and evidencing the engagement and participation framework across all agencies that work with or support with disabled children, young people and families. Also provides help and support for agencies to ensure they are able to apply the framework this includes developing shared and accessible information resources, alongside the development of core training and development for staff that underpins the engagement and participation framework.
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Children's Participation Project Wessex

Bath
The Children's Participation Project's main remit is to ensure that children and young people in Wessex participate in decision-making and planning about their lives. It works with a wide range of children and young people in rural areas. One of their priorities is to create better participation opportunities for disabled children within schools, the community and across necessary services. The project has particular skills working with the under 5s. and provides training and support to schools, nurseries and other related services.
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Children's Resource Project North East

Stockton-on-Tees
The Children's Resources Project focuses on two priority areas. These include participation work to influence the development of services and self-directed support for disabled young people.
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The Children's Society Rochdale

Rochdale
The Children's Society Rochdale works in a school based family support unit to promote positive behaviour in the home, school and community. It works with disabled young people and has a specialist anti-bullying team.
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Disability Advocacy Project

London
The Disability Advocacy Project works with, and on behalf of, all disabled children and young people to ensure their views, wishes and feelings are known and that they are included in decisions being made about them. The project provides independent advocacy, health advocacy, a personal advisor service, research and development, participation and training.
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Lancashire Children's Rights Project

Preston
The Lancashire Children's Rights Project works with looked after and leaving care young people including disabled young people. It works with young people to provide advocacy, advice and participation opportunities.
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LEAP Project – Listening, Empowering, Advocacy, Participation

Leeds
The LEAP project promotes the inclusion of disabled children as well as refugee and asylum seeking young people, particularly within education and the community. The work includes training professionals on how to recognise and understand the needs of disabled young children, and disability awareness training within schools.
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PACT – Participation, Advocacy, Consultancy, Training

York
The PACT project upholds the rights of disabled children and young people through the provision of a wide-ranging programme of direct services, the delivery of high quality nationally recognised and accredited training through our consultation service with disabled children and young people. The training programme, is supported by the I'll Go First toolkit and CD-Rom, for professionals who work directly with children and young people with communication impairments.
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PAR Project – Participation, Advocacy, Rights

Littlehampton, West Sussex
The PAR project provides an advocacy and children's rights service, an independent visitor scheme and a participation service to all children and young people in the care of West Sussex County Council, and also those receiving a leaving care service. The project works with a diverse range of children and young people including disabled children and young people.
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Portage and Early Support Services

Brighton
The Portage and Early Support Service supports young disabled children up to the age of five and their families in a way that maximizes their quality of life and helps every child to achieve his or her potential. The project uses the Portage method to teach developmental skills and provide an extensive toy library for volunteers and family.
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St Christopher Shared Care Project

Solihull
The St Christopher Shared Care Project provides a child focused, rights lead residential provision for disabled children and young people. The project works towards empowering and enabling disabled young people to "speak up, speak out" about the issues that affect them, and includes the most profoundly disabled who use different methods of communication.
Their work includes a number of multimedia resources including the Askability website, Ask Us about Direct Payments and Ask Us about Strategic Planning.
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Torbay Children's Fund

Devon
This project support and encourages children and young people in to express their views and make a difference, including disabled children and young people. They provide training opportunities for the young people they work with and also work with other agencies to ensure the voices of young people are heard.
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Thanet Children's Participation Project

Ramsgate Kent, service deliverd: Ashford and shepway area
Thanet Participation Project provides play and leisure playschemes during Easter, summer and October school holidays, we also provide weekly Saturday fun clubs. All children are referred by Kent County Council, Social Services, Disability Team. The project works with Children with diverse individual requirements, this includes the more profound multiple Disabled children.
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Warrington Children and Young People's Participation Project

Warrington
The Children and Young People's Participation Project provides community-based, high-quality children's services for children and young people with additional needs or who are particularly vulnerable. This includes disabled children. The project supports children through group work, parent and children training courses, communication work and participation work.
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Western Corner

Oxfordshire
Western Corner, is a community project for disabled children and young people in west Oxfordshire, who have a moderate or severe learning impairment. They also offer support to their siblings, and work in schools to promote disability awareness.
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Windchimes

Kent
Windchimes is a newly built disabled children's resource centre. It comprises of a six-bed residential respite unit and well equipped resource centre. It is in the process of setting up a parent's advisory board which will develop over time into a commissioning body for disabled children's services. Windchimes works to ensure that disabled children and young people are enabled to influence the specification, design, commissioning and delivery of services.
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