Support for Families

Background

First Step is recognised as a highly professional, specialised, experienced, and caring Family Support organisation based in the London Borough of Havering. It works with families of babies and young children with special needs and/or disabilities.

For over 35 years, families have contacted First Step at a moment of crisis and uncertainty, normally pre-diagnosis, fearing all is not well with their child. Sometimes, they are struggling to be listened to by medical professionals, feeling overwhelmed with the implications of supporting a child with special needs and are isolated.

Families can be referred by professionals including Health Visitors, by friends or through our publicity and website research.

A family focus group recently highlighted how crucial the initial emotional and practical support provided was, as there is little other assistance available to them. In the words of Andrea, mum of Andrew: "There’s no support anywhere else like it".

Essential Family Support

We primarily deliver our support through Family Support Groups, which meet every week for a session in the morning or afternoon during school term time, with additional Holiday sessions spread over the year that siblings under 8 can also attend.

The support is designed to deliver the following objectives:

• build trusting relationships with families so that they know and feel someone understands and cares about them, their child and their situation
• progressively understand the needs of the child and the family and develop a family-centred plan to enable the parents to start to regain control of their family
• support families in coming to terms with the needs of their child
• identify and develop communication methods, strategies and motivators that will enable families to nurture their child
• to model the strategies and communication styles identified and to encourage and empower the parents
• build the resilience of parents to manage the situation, the wider family and the lack of understanding of the community
• empower parents to manage the professionals they interact with more effectively
• integrate parents into a wider peer support group, establishing lifelong friendships

Whilst the core of this work is facilitated through the Family Support Groups, additional one-to-one work is carried out by our Senior workers to address the specific needs of individual families and to assist in the preparation for application for Disability Living Allowance (DLA), which can be a daunting task.

DLA is the initial Benefit claimed for a child with special needs, which, once awarded, becomes the gateway to future benefits and support that will be required throughout the child’s life.