What is a Parent Carer Forum?
A Parent Carer Forum (PCF) is a group of parents and carers of children with additional needs and disabilities. Everyone who works or volunteers with a parent carer forum is also a parent or carer of a child or young person with SEND. Parent Carer Forums aim to ensure the services in their area meet the needs and improve outcomes of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families. Essex Family Forum is the Parent Carer Forum for Essex.
What does Essex Family Forum as a Parent Carer Forum do?
We work with (not for) local authorities, health commissioning bodies and social care to represent parent views and experiences to influence and inform the provision and services used by our children, young people and their families.
Essex Family Forum believes in co-production. Co-production is when parent carers play an integral and equal part in the decision-making process and are fully engaged in shaping, developing, implementing and evaluating services and systems.
The Essex Alliance
The Essex Alliance is made up of the three-parent carer forums that cover each local authority within Essex: Southend, Essex and Thurrock.
The Essex Alliance work together to represent all families across the county of Essex, which can be referred to by some services as SET Essex.
Parent voice beyond Essex
Essex Family Forum is part of the National Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF) and the Eastern Region Regional Parent Carer Forum (ERPCF)
The NNPCF’s membership is made up of (up to) 153 local parent carer forums, currently comprising 154,000* parent carers. These member forums are arranged into 9 regions, these follow the same regional breakdown as the Department for Education. We are are in the East of England Region.
Each of the regions appoints a regional representative to act as their regional steering group member within the NNPCF national steering group. Our NNPCF Regional Director for the East of England is Jo Harrison.
The Eastern Region Regional Parent Carer Forum ( ERPCF) is one of the 9 regions within the National Network of Parent Carer Forums ( NNPCF). It brings together and 11 Parent Carer Forums (PCFs) from across the East of England. Each of these forums represents local parents and carers and receives the Department for Education (DfE) DfE Grant for parent participation for their Local or Unitary Authority.
You can read more about our regional voice here: https://easternregionofparentcarerforums.org.uk/about/a-voice-for-the-eastern-region/
* As per financial year 2023/24
Julia Brunning our management committee member, is a National Representative with the NNPCF working both regionally and nationally, including being the appointed representative to attend the National SEND Forum, which brings together key organisations such as National Head Teachers Union, Special Schools Consortium, NASEN and Whole School SEND.
Jo Harrison our Strategic Development Coordinator (Heath Inequalties) East of England Regional Director for the National Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF) and also the National Co-Chair
You can read more here about the work of NNPCF here: https://nnpcf.org.uk/blog/about/meet-the-team/steering-group/
This means your views not only contribute to the work we do in Essex but also to regional and national discussions and developments relating to SEND.
What's on/Coming up
Who we are
The Essex Family Forum is a well-informed, connected and empowered community of families that includes children and young people up to the age of 25 with disabilities or additional needs. We work in partnership with organisations, our Local Authority and health commissioners aiming for quality outcomes that meet the needs of all our families. We are also part of the Eastern region and national network of forums.