National Family Partnership Forum holds first activity

Eight members of our National Family Partnership Forum attended a development day on Thursday 2nd December. We began by looking at our individual strengths, experiences and what we could each contribute to the Forum. After a quick tea-break, we discussed the Forum’s purpose and aims. The group agreed the purpose was to ensure people supported can access their best life. To achieve this, the group will:

• be positive and solution focussed
• gather evidence and demonstrate impact of decisions (positive and negative)
• challenge local and national decision makers
• act as a consultative group to inform new initiatives and programmes at Sense Scotland.

A key focus was to agree how Forum members will communicate with each other and with Sense Scotland parents and carers. The group felt it was important that all parents and carers knew about the National Family Partnership Forum, its role and how to get involved. We agreed to prepare a short summary of each meeting to be shared on the Sense Scotland website and in the Coronavirus newsletter.

Finally, we discussed tasks the Forum will undertake now, next (by June) and later (by December). Key tasks include:

• create a communication plan
• prepare a parent/carer survey
• hold parent/carer open days
• strengthen our relationship with decision makers, particularly the Scottish Government.

The next Forum meeting will take place in March 2022. We will be discussing the parent/carer survey, Forum communication plan, Covid-19 recovery and recruitment. Email us if you would like to attend.