Short Breaks for disabled children and young people, and their families

What is a short break?

Short breaks have two main aims:

To give parents or full time carers of disabled children and young people a break from their caring responsibilities.
To enable disabled children to have social opportunities and join in with safe, fun and interesting activities.

Short breaks can be for a few hours or longer, including overnight and can be provided in lots of different ways. A short break could include having additional support so that a child or young person can join in with a club or recreational activity in their community. It could involve someone caring for a child in their own home or within the child’s home. It could be extra support for the disabled child alongside family leisure and social activities.

Is a short break the same as respite?

Short breaks were previously known as respite care. However, many people thought this had negative connotations, making it sound like looking after a disabled child was a burden to the family. The term short break is now usually used instead.

Who provides short breaks?

Agencies that provide short breaks:

There are different ways that short breaks are provided in York. For example, there are specialist schemes offered by the local authority and voluntary sector agencies offering group activities and individual support. Some families may prefer Direct Payments, monies paid by the Local Authority directly to families so that they can organise and pay for support themselves.

Not all families need specialist short break provision and may find that mainstream services for children and young people are able to meet their needs, for example, after school clubs, holiday schemes and youth clubs. The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 requires that such services are accessible to disabled children. Where children and young people require support over and above the normal requirements for such services, additional short breaks support can be offered.

Will I be charged for short breaks?

Some activities and services have a cost which you would expect to pay whether a child is disabled or non disabled. Families would be expected to pay such costs. The additional support a disabled child may need to be included should not be an extra cost to their family.

How do families access short breaks?

There is a Referral Co-ordinator who is a first point of contact for families requesting short breaks for the first time. There will be an assessment of need followed by a decision on provision of short breaks. However, a detailed assessment is not always necessary. In York we make sure that there is fair access for all families by using agreed criteria that takes into account the impact of caring for a disabled child on all of the family.

Do I have to have a social worker to access short breaks?

In the past, children accessing short breaks have been linked to a social worker who carries out the assessment and keeps in touch to ensure everything is working out for the child and family.
It is now possible to have short breaks, without necessarily being linked to a social worker. The Referral Co-ordinator will try to ensure that a professional who is already supporting your family, keeps in touch to ensure that the short breaks you have are meeting your needs.

Requesting a short break

To find out more about how you can access short breaks, arrangements for assessment and other information please contact: Health and Disability Team, Referral Co-ordinator Tel: 01904 555693 or speak to your child's social worker if they have one.