FAQs

South Glos Parent Carers (SGPC) is part of The National Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF), which is made up of all the parent carer forums across England. Parent carer forums are groups run by parents and carers of children with additional needs and disabilities whose aim is to ensure that services in their area meet the needs of these children and their families.

They do this by gathering the views of local families and then working in partnership with local authorities, educational settings, health providers and other providers to highlight where local services, processes and commissioners are working well, or challenge when changes or improvements need to be made.

It is free to join a parent carer forum and you can be involved as much or as little as you like.

A parent carer is a parent who cares for a child or young person who has any additional needs, disability or long-term illness – whether or not there is a diagnosis. Parent carers often feel like they don’t identify as ‘carers’, as they are first and foremost parents. But being a parent of a child who needs additional support means you are a carer – and SGPC can offer support, information and a platform to share your experiences about your child’s SEND journey.

No. SGPC is independent of any authority and actively seeks out funding streams to operate and provide services to the community. The forum exists to co-produce with service providers, commissioners and policy makers. We strive to have a seat at the decision-making tables and influence in this way. While we receive small grants from the DfE, Council and Health sector, this does NOT alter our purpose as a Parent Carer Forum and we are not part of the Local Authority.

SGPC are prevented from campaigning to influence those who make decisions; instead, we aim to be involved in the decision making and planning processes through co-production meetings. We attend meetings to represent the collective voice and experiences of parent carers in our community to highlight where changes need to be made in local services.

Campaign groups can work collaboratively with SGPC - if appropriate, we can share their information with our community, and they can give us feedback in a constructive way so we can influence at meetings while they raise awareness and support for the campaign.

The SGPC Community Base is at The Kingswood Centre, New Cheltenham Road, Kingswood BS15 4FS. Drop-in on Tuesdays and Thursdays (term time) between 10am – 2pm.

Yes! We have volunteers in our Community Support team and Parent Representatives who attend meetings to represent the collective parent carer voice. For further information about volunteering with SGPC, email: team@sglospc.org.uk