Your local Parent and Carer Forum
Supporting Medway Families and parent carers by helping their voices be heard
About Us
Welcome to Medway Parent and Carer Forum (MPCF)
We are a independent charity run by parent carers, for parent carers of children and young people aged 0-25 with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in Medway. We work with (not for) the local authority, health and local services to improve services for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and their families.
Many parent carers feel isolated, unheard or unsure where to turn when navigating education, health, social care and local support. We bring families together so you are listened to, supported, and represented in decisions that affect your children’s lives.
We are currently funded by the Department of Education and with grants from Kent Community Foundation and National Lottery we have a family support team.
We help families by...
- Working alongside the Medway Council and Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board to get parents voices across
- Gathering Parent and Carer Experiences and feed them into local decision-making
- Running Events, coffee mornings, and meet-the-professional sessions
- Signposting our members to local services and support
- Offering Peer Support and a listening ear
- Help Parents understand processes such as EHCP, assessments, forms and plans
- Representing Parent and Carer voices in Medway
Participation and Co-production: Your voice
We work together to ensure Medway Parent Carers feel that their voices, views and experiences matter and contribute towards developing and improving services locally. We aim to provide the opportunities for our families to influence the decisions that affect them and contribute to developing positive outcomes that meet the needs of families.
We do this by reaching out to Parent Carers to gather their views via social media, coffee mornings, events both online and in person, and surveys.
We represent Parents’ experience and expertise to decision-makers by having our Parent Representatives attend meetings and by holding ‘meet the professional events’, so parents can share their experiences
We now have over 800 members from across all areas of Medway, we actively seek venues across the towns for our events, to ensure they are accessible to as many families as possible
Our Family Support Team
Our Family Support Team are trained Parent Carers who can offer;
- Advice and Friendly Support
- Help with completing Forms (such as DLA, PIP, Universal Credit etc.)
- Guidance through SEND processes
- Peer to peer support in navigating local services including; health, education and social care
Meet The Team
The forum team is made up of parent carers or close family members of children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) or professionals that have experience of SEND.
Our Board of Trustees oversee the management of the Forum, with the day to day running organised by our 3 part time staff and our steering group of volunteers.
