Summary
We provided places for 16 children (with Better Breaks Funding) who live in Glasgow to attend our holiday clubs. This provided families who have children with complex needs the opportunity to have some much-needed respite while their children were cared for and had fun.
What Holiday Clubs for Glasgow Children aged 5-20 did
Our organisation runs a number of services for families affected by disability. Our school holiday clubs cater for the diverse/individual requirements of a range of children most of whom have complex needs. Children are individually assessed so we can produce a plan that meets their needs. As well as the important element of play/leisure, we promote health/wellbeing through all the activities and encourage independence/self-help skills.
Demand for Glasgow places is higher than ever with regular requests for places all through the year – in particular for the holiday clubs. We try to offer as many young people as possible these funded places. There is a long waitlist and families with no support are first to be offered places. After assessment and meeting the staff, children are then introduced. Staff training is vital and is ongoing within Buddies.
During the Holiday Clubs we visited places such as swimming, trampolining, Edinburgh Zoo, M&Ds, Laser Quest, Inflatable parks, Almond Valley, cinemas, bowling, minigolf, Clyde Valley Farm Park, Heads of Ayr, Blair Drummond Safari Park, pumpkin picking, pottery classes, local county parks, beaches, Monty’s Farm Park, speedboats at Loch Lomond, Freewheels, Pinkston Watersports, Braveheart Archery, Escape Rooms, Yoga and many other stimulating and exciting life enhancing activities.
The objective when planning any project is to pre-plan/research thoroughly. Whilst unexpected challenges arise, we are always prepared to adapt all plans. Through reflective sessions, evaluations and parent/child feedback the holiday clubs are successful.
What Buddies Clubs and Services has learned
As with previous years the little support there is available to families with children affected by disability within Glasgow is almost non-existent. This is at emergency levels. We constantly receive requests throughout the year for our holiday clubs and received multiple forms of contact per day in the period leading up to our Summer Holiday Club. This is happening currently for our 2024 Summer Holiday Club.
One parent we spoke to recently was astounded when we told her the length of the waiting list. The families who use our services already have no other services and they transition through all of our services with no sign of other supports available. One of the most common and unfortunate pieces of feedback we always receive is that parents, whilst they are grateful to receive two sessions per week for their child they really do need more than that. Despite needing more, the parents are able to make it work. We wish we could do more.
The holiday club always brings new families to us and after the holidays, they all want to try to find funding for our other services. We work in partnership with a range of agencies. As we continue to move forward, we are once again receiving more referrals from Social Work. Social Work do not hesitate to send families at risk and with high needs in the hope that we can help. We do our best but we are always oversubscribed with the continually growing waiting list. However, most families self-refer, as getting social work support is almost impossible. Social work has very long waiting lists for their children and families team. We have very little hope that this will improve anytime soon. The special schools in Glasgow also send families to us. Some special schools used to run short ‘holiday club respite’ but these have all stopped.
We aim to offer funded places to families who appear to be ‘at risk’ for a range of reasons. The main one being families who have no support except school and for them the long holidays is a very difficult time with some ending up with family breakdown. We also always have a few emergency situations where a parent is ill and a family needs urgent support.
Holiday periods always seem quite daunting and helpless, as most young people would be stuck at home and indoors due their complex needs. Parents/carers in some cases would have to give up employment to care for the children. All of these things have a detrimental effect on siblings as they can also suffer as they sometimes end up being carers for their brother(s) or sister(s) and even parents and miss having time with their own friends and having their own lives. We were able to accommodate some siblings as they were able to be in-group situations and really enjoy being on trips and outings.
We have also learned that no matter how many children and young people we are able to accommodate, there is never truly enough support. Even though we try to take on new children and families into our services throughout the year - the volume of new applications far outweighs our progress through the waiting list.
Furthermore, the demand for holiday club spaces we receive from current users alone means we have ration out places to families. There are always challenges that arise the main one of course is finding funding for staff. Whilst our staff do a wonderful job in caring for our young people we never seem to have enough staff during holiday periods to meet the high levels of need. Due to the complex needs most young people the staff ratio is mainly 1-1 and that needs lots of funding. We have also found it rather alarming how many more children require 2-1 support both indoors and outdoors. The opportunities for these children are obviously even fewer. However, the consequence of this is that it places more strain on our staffing levels and it makes it even more difficult to accommodate more children.
We have been extremely fortunate to be funded by the Better Breaks programme for many, many years, as finding funding for children particularly in Glasgow is nearly impossible. The Better Breaks programme is the only significant support for children in Glasgow over the holiday periods. We cannot stress enough how important this support has been to families in Glasgow. The Better Breaks Fund helped so very many families over the years have a chance to have a bit of “normality”, have fun with their friends and take part in life-enhancing opportunities once again. Even though children previously funded have since grown into young adulthood and some have even been lucky enough to be allocated budgets - the reality is that there will always be children who need support and this will not change.
Children get almost no support from the statutory sector except in extreme cases. We are finding it extremely difficult to access any other funding at the minute. The demand for funding is high and funding available is low. The funding challenge is exacerbated by the fact that it is getting extremely expensive to operate just normally day-to-day. Without the Better Breaks funding, families in Glasgow would have had absolutely nothing.
Our passion is to help all children and families who contact us and the only we way can do that is to find the money to run the services they so desperately need.
The holiday club always brings new families to us and after the holidays, they all want to try to find funding for our other services. We work in partnership with a range of agencies. As we continue to move forward, we are once again receiving more referrals from carer’s centres. Even although they have no funding, they do not hesitate to send families at risk and with high needs in the hope that we can help. We do our best but we are always oversubscribed with the continually growing waiting list. Many families now self-refer as very few have ongoing social work input. Social work has very long waiting lists for their children and families team. We have very little hope that this will improve anytime soon. The special schools in Glasgow also send families to us. Some special schools used to run short ‘holiday club respite’ but these have all stopped.
We aim to offer funded places to families who appear to be ‘at risk’ for a range of reasons. The main one being families who have no support except school and for them the long holidays is a very difficult time with some ending up with family breakdown. We also always have a few emergency situations where a parent is ill and a family needs urgent support.
Holiday periods always seem quite daunting and helpless, as most young people would be stuck at home and indoors due their complex needs. Parents/carers in some cases would have to give up employment to care for the children. All of these things have a detrimental effect on siblings as they can also suffer as they sometimes end up being carers for their brother(s) or sister(s) and even parents and miss having time with their own friends and having their own lives. We were able to accommodate some siblings as they were able to be in-group situations and really enjoy being on trips and outings.
We have also learned that no matter how many children and young people we are able to accommodate, there is never truly enough support. Even though we try to take on new children and families into our services throughout the year - the volume of new applications far outweighs our progress through the waiting list. Furthermore, the demand for holiday club spaces we receive from current users alone means we have ration out places to families. The picture really is that if we could we would have 60 children and young people per day every day during the school holidays. There are always challenges that arise the main one of course is finding funding for staff. Whilst our staff do a wonderful job in caring for our young people we never seem to have enough staff during holiday periods to meet the high levels of need. Due to the complex needs most young people the staff ratio is mainly 1-1 and that needs lots of funding. We are also noticing that we are supporting an increasing number of children and young people who require 2-1 support both indoors and outdoors. The opportunities for these children are obviously even fewer. However, the consequence of this is that it places more strain on our staffing levels and it makes it even more difficult to accommodate more children.
How Buddies Clubs and Services has benefitted from the funding
Our organisation has been extremely fortunate to have received funding from the Better Breaks Fund for many years, firstly for our adventure breaks programme and since 2015 for our holiday clubs. We have also benefitted from Creative Breaks funding for several years. It has helped us bring a meaningful service to children and families who would otherwise get no support whatsoever in Glasgow. Our holiday clubs have run since 1995 and we learn something new each time. Without the funding, we would not have gained as many skills, and as much expertise and knowledge as we have now. Furthermore, without this funding there would be a massive hole in the service provision in this city - children would be stuck at home without any meaningful outlet to express themselves socially and parents/carers regularly have to give up work to carry out their caring duties. It is hard to comprehend why things are so difficult for families affected by disabilities and it is hard to put into words what we see these families go through on a day-to-day basis. Through the Better Breaks fund, we have been able to bridge a huge gap that is extraordinarily difficult to fill. However, most importantly, we have continued to build and develop the skills and capacity to effectively make a difference to the lives of our children and their families. We have been able to make partnerships and links with these organisations who provide services to carers/cared for children and adults and have the opportunity to support each other and share good practice.
We continue to experience massive difficulty in finding on floor staff. This is also becoming rather critical. However, thanks to the funding, which we have received from the Better Breaks programme our reputation has grown as an excellent service, provider and we are able to show other funders that we are a cause worthy of support. This is backed up by our most recent Care Inspectorate reports and we have managed to find funding for our senior staff team. This team is the key to a strong and enthusiastic organisation. All of this continues to improve the overall development of the organisation. We hope to be able to continue to build on our growing strengths. We continue to be optimistic for the future and will continue to fight to provide a first-class service to our families and help them thrive in their lives.
Project Outcomes
Outcome
16 children, who live in Glasgow and have no funding, will have been able to participate in the holiday clubs and had the opportunity to experience stimulating trips and outings with other young people. This will have given them the chance to have fun make new friends supporting our inclusive ethos with a strong climate of respect and trust. We will have been proactive in identifying and reducing potential barriers for future holiday clubs in order for the children to be able to experience the best possible outcomes.
Results
All children involved have the opportunity to take part in activities and new enjoyable experiences that not only enhance their learning but also offer them the chance to grow in confidence and build on their independence/social skills. They are surrounded daily by others their own age and have the opportunities to build positive relationships/friendships not just with their peers but the staff.
Most children use our other services throughout the year and we know their likes/dislikes and what activities they enjoy; we still encourage all to make choices and show that their opinions are valued when planning. We found new challenges this year. Over the past twelve months, we have found a rise in frequency of challenging behaviours and the unpredictability of these makes planning the holiday club sessions very stressful. Despite the challenges, we were able to successfully run a full complement of community trips and outings for our children.
Case study
RAJ is a 10-year-old boy. R was diagnosed with Autism, ADHD, sensory processing disorder and speech delay. R lives at home with his mother and is an only child. His dad visits regularly. R started in our Sunday Club service and has been able to begin sessions during our holiday clubs. R has no sense of awareness and danger and can run away without any warning or signs. R has been assessed as needing 2:1 support at all times to enable him to have a safe and meaningful service when he is at Buddies. He and his mum are also supported by CAHMS. We find that the challenging behaviours R presents with can be quite frequent. However, the staff always look forward to seeing R when he attends and he always has fun here.
Due to the nature of his behaviours and needs we have to anticipate all scenarios when planning a trip that involves R. Even then, we cannot plan for every eventuality because there are so many unknown variables when accessing community facilities. Despite the concerns surrounding R’s behaviour, we were able to take him on several outings during the holiday clubs. Most recently in our October Holiday Club, we took him swimming at the Time Capsule, which he loved. Being able to facilitate trips for children who cannot safely take part in community outings without the correct support is one of the purposes of our organisation and to see R’s enjoyment during these trips showed us just how important it is to follow through on that purpose.
Outcome
The 16 parents/carers and young carers whose children participate in the clubs will have time to do things outside their caring duties. This includes being able to go to work, meet friends, go out together or with other siblings. They will be able to take part in daily activities like shopping, appointments, which could normally be very distressing to the child and the parent/carer or sibling. This also give the carers time to relax and look forward to seeing their young person at the end of the day
Results
Being able to offer children holiday club sessions meant all of the parents/carers could plan lives outside of their caring roles. The whole family unit can share new experiences and have fun. Having a child with complex needs affects everyone in the family when there is no reliable and stable support. All parents/carers/siblings throughout the entire service had an opportunity for respite with the cared-for children and adults out of the house. Just having a few hours to relax and not have to worry about their cared for children made an immediate positive impact to mental health. The sessions also help to maintain very strained family relationships. We also have a number of older parents/carers who are finding the struggles of their responsibilities increase year on year. Fortunately, we were able to provide a diverse range of life enhancing experiences for the children and their carers were able to once again have the chance to take part in life the way it is meant to be lived.
Case study
DF is an 11 year old boy who also begun with Buddies by using the Sunday Club service. D has Autism, PICA, and learning disability and is non-verbal. D is very energetic and requires constant supervision, as he would run under any circumstances. D requires 1:1 support indoors and 2:1 support outdoors. D lives at home with his parents and older brother. D loves swimming and animals. We were able to organise trips to swimming and Edinburgh Zoo for D during the holiday club – which he loved.
With D taking part in our services, his parents were free to spend time together. Mum and dad told us that they were able to go for lunch together alone for the first time in a long time. Simple activities are really taken for granted and most people would not need to think twice about going for lunch. However, for our families, they always question whether it is worth going. We are able to help families to enjoy their lives when their children are in our care.
Outcome
Carers will be involved in their child’s progress and will have built good relationships and work collaboratively with staff in order for us to provide the best possible outcomes for the children. Carers will feel comfortable and happy leaving their young people in our care in order for then to go about their daily tasks knowing that their children are supported by well skilled and nurturing staff.
Results
We meet and speak to parents/carers daily. We involve them in all aspects of their children’s care. With this high level of personal involvement, we are acutely aware of how much they struggle to cope with their daily lives. It can be very emotional to listen to their stories. We prioritise the need of parents/carers to have a life outside of caring. These services offer desperate parents/carers consistent and reliable support. They know that their children are safe and happy. This is often taken for granted by other families with no caring commitments. The number of families who have requested spaces is at critical levels. This only paints a small picture of the battle carers face. The children and young people love to socialise freely once again and this is also true for the parents/carers. The feedback we received showed how important these clubs were to health/wellbeing of all.
Case study
AF is a 9-year-old boy with ASD. He began attending Buddies using our Wednesday after school service. A is very energetic and has a lovely nature and is always happy when he comes to Buddies. A lives at home with his mum and brother who also has a disability. A is not safety or danger awareness and just runs so it is important that he has the correct level of support. A has progressed well at Buddies and was able to go to a soft play during our holiday clubs. A’s mum did not realise we offered different support during the school holidays but was so relieved when she found out A could attend. She told us she is often at a loss at how to entertain both children at the same time during the holidays when schools are off. A being able to attend our holiday clubs meant that his brother was able to have some one on one time with their mum. This is very important to all families but even more so when it is a single parent of two children with additional support needs.
Outcome
All children will have had the opportunity to be involved in a range of activities giving them the opportunity to express themselves and make choices. Children will feel a sense of security and will have formed positive relationships and friendships in an environment where they feel part of a family. Parents/carers and siblings will have been given the opportunity to have time to their selves improving their wellbeing and ability to continue their caring roles. They often see real changes in their children, which gives them more independence within their homes. The staff’s perspective is often surprising and the children benefit greatly from the high levels of support given.
Results
During the clubs, parents/carers are able to spend time with their other children in an environment that does not have to cater to the needs of their child with complex needs. With the disabled children in our care, they were always happy and excited upon arrival. The holiday clubs afforded the opportunity to parents/carers spend time to listen to the needs of their other children, family members, work and social opportunities. Within their family units, they are able to respond directly to these needs and discuss as a family how they can perhaps introduce changes in their day-to-day lives. Small changes arising from these discussions often make huge differences to all. This is why these services are so important. In terms of duration, our services might not seem as impactful as “respite”. However, we can provide services far more consistently throughout the year, particularly during the school holidays. It helps maintain stable routine for all. Parents/carers/siblings are the ones who really feel the benefit of this.
Case study
LT is a 10-year-old girl who has only been attending Buddies for the 8 months. L has Autism and a learning disability and needs 1:1 support indoors and 2:1 support outdoors. L lives at home with her parents. G is non-verbal and uses Makaton, PECS and NOVACHAT to communicate her needs. L has also no danger awareness at all which has to be considered in order to facilitate her services. L began with Buddies in attending our Sunday Club.
L has been attending our Sunday Club regularly before deciding to give holiday club sessions a try. L was able to attend, most recently, our trip to Blair Drummond Safari Park during our October Holiday Club. L loves animals and loves her per cat Duke. L had a great time on the trip and this gave us an opportunity to enable L to be exposed to a larger group setting and more used to being with her peers outside of a school environment. She has come on leaps and bounds since being with us. Her parents are delighted at her progress and are feeling more confident and supported in their roles as parents. They are looking forward to our Summer Holiday Club next.