What is the Parent Forum?

North Lincolnshire Parent Forum (NLPF) is part of the National Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF) which works alongside the national charity Contact which advocates for children and young people from 0 – 25 years of age, along with their families, who live with SEND. They advocate at the top level nationally with the Department for Education. There are 152 Parent Forum’s in the NNPCF network and North Lincolnshire’s all volunteer run forum is identified as one of the best.

North Lincolnshire’s Parent Forum is run by a dedicated group of volunteers. Each of them have a child/children/young person(s) with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They support families in North Lincolnshire with children and young people between 0 and 25 years of age at any stage of the process who also have special educational needs and/or disabilities. They provide this support by hosting events, like coffee mornings and evenings, family fun events at Air Kings and Fun Forest and the annual co-produced SEND Parent Carer Conference amongst many, many others, throughout the year for their parent carer members and their families. They also host a unique social media channel that members can join to access direct support and peer experience. This work is funded by a small grant that comes directly from the Department for Education.

NLPF is recognised as one of the key strategic partners in North Lincolnshire for all services that work with and for children and young people with SEND. These services include:

•  North Lincolnshire Council’s Children and Families, and SEND teams
• North Lincolnshire and Goole NHS teams
• Carers Support Service and Carers in Partnership
• Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board.

They also work alongside mainstream primary and secondary schools, specialist primary and secondary schools, alternative provisions and with further and higher education providers. They sit on a multitude of boards representing their members at the local, regional and national level.

Have you thought of joining the Parent Forum?

Are you the parent/carer of a child, young person or adult (up to 25 years old) with one or more special educational needs and/or disabilities?

If the answer is yes, consider joining NLPF by filling out their online form. It is free to sign up and you will be able to access all of their exclusive events, their private social media forums and access unique peer support from parent carers just like you.

On joining the forum you are able to access experts by experience volunteers who:

• work closely with North Lincolnshire Council and co-produce events multiple times throughout the year
• meet at informal coffee mornings and evenings
• are able to signpost you and guide you on your journey
• hold an Annual General meeting for their members and the annual SEND Parent Carer Conference
• advocate for you and your families with services throughout North Lincolnshire
• improve channels of communication between services, professionals and parent carers.

Their events are available via their website and if you choose to join you will receive a welcome email inviting you to their informal and formal events, and will be invited to join their social media platforms which are run by volunteers. You’ll also receive exclusive member events such as the family fun events which are SEND centred. NLPF look forward to meeting and welcoming you.