Please can you help save Hop Skip & Jump Bristol - its my lifeline

[smugtandemfeeder]

Please could you all sign this petition to save the special needs play centre in Bristol - Hop Skip and Jump.

www.ipetitions.com/petition/letusplay/

Currently the centre is a wonderful drop in centre all day 6 days a week, where parents with children who have special needs can go free of charge, with siblings and family members and play together in an inclusive atmosphere. I can chose to have a rest while my kids play happily together, or I can play with them in a safe place.

The trustees in their wisdom have decided to stop the drop in facility. They want to make it an expensive paid for respite centre where parents either sit separately from the children or leave the children there.

All the parents there are devastated. This place has saved our lives recently. The changes will prevent us from attending.

It seems that the trustees have made up their minds but there is a petition and local press to help stop this happening.

Thank you,

Smug [Devastated]

Very grateful for any support. You can sign anonymously.

Will happily sign; we're not far away (over bridge but come from bridgy) and I have heard only positives about the place.

Are they operating as a charity- just I note the petition mentions fundraising 'We would also like the funds that have been raised by the committee from local businesses and organisations for local use to continue to be used for their intended purpose at the Bristol Centre for the benefit of local children.
'

Worth giving the charity commission a bell in taunton (or at least they sued to be), frunds raised for a purpose should usually be used for that.

Signed.

Signed.

Thank you. The Charity Commission say they cant do anything as the charity remit is to provide assistance and support to children and their families which they say they are still doing.

They are throwing out all the toys that people raised money for. So sad.

Here is a news story about it.

www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Changes-shatter-parents-disabled-children/story-13490614-detail/story.html

Ah yes it all depends on how they built their initial statement of intent

It must be very expensive to run. I can see why they can't afford to keep going with totally free access, to be honest.

for you all, it is so lovely when you find a safe haven.

It is a bit confusing, though. You say that you can currently choose to have a rest while they play, or play with them. What specifically are you upset about? Is it the fact that you will HAVE to sit seperately, or the fact that you'll have to pay, or the fact that you'll have to book?

Lougle in 2011 their income was in excess of their expenditure. The parents pay direct debit donations and work very very hard to raise money for them.

If you go in with them you will have to sit upstairs. My son has terrible seperation anxiety and gets terrified if I go upstairs. I wouldnt be able to go there and sit upstairs.

In order to go in with them you will now have to be CRB checked. This will take months and isnt necessary if its a drop in centre with free access. You will have to prebook which doesnt help me if im having a bad morning as currently I can just drop everything and get in the car.

I would also have to pay £3.50 and hour in order to sit upstairs watching my son be upset! I may as well send him to preschool. Fine if you can afford it but parents of disabled children are often the poorest. At the moment I can go in 6 days a week 10am til 5.30pm free of charge. Expensive 6 days a week at £3.50 an hour for someone on DLA and carers allowance!

This is the only place I go where my son is happy and is with me. He is not happy at home in a small enclosed space. He is not happy out and about as everything freaks him out.

OK, so you are upset about each of the things I mentioned. You are upset that you would have to sit seperately, upset that you'd have to book, and upset that you'd have to pay.

So....why are they doing it? Have they given you reasons why they are changing the provision?

Presumably for many parents these drop-ins are about beating the grim isolation that is so common when you have a child with special needs. Being with other parents and their children is key to empowering parents, like connecting people on this forum.

It is obviously working well as a drop-in for so many parents so why fix what ain't broken? Why could they not have continued running drop-ins at weekends and after school and charge - if they have to - a nominal fee, say £2 a morning?

At Thames Valley Adventure Playground, they seem to be able to accommodate families and playworkers without any of us having to have a CRB check. The logical extension of daft policies like this would be to demand CRB's from every parent bringing their child along to a soft play area.

The trustees say there is a need for respite day care. They did not consult users of the service. Their other centres run more like how they will be changing this place to.

All parents here are devastated. It's my RL mumsnet. It's the only place my son is truly happy with me. I enjoy the fact I can be happy with him here. The changes will also segregate him from his NT sister.

Being devil's advocate (as you know I tend to do), I would be pretty cross if my SN child couldn't access the soft play because your NT child (your DD) was using it. Is there a possibility that demand is outstripping supply?

At the moment, because parents stay with their kids, they never turn anyone away. It can be fairly quiet when its just the preschoolers. Busy in school holidays but no one turned away.

With the new system they will not have the luxury of parents on hand so will have to limit how many children can be booked in.

I think its all about money. It is difficult to fundraise. It's easier to access childcare funding. However so many people care so deeply about this place that they work tirelessly to fundraise.

Thanks Riven. (I PMed you on FB earlier - outing myself...)

Link

done. Good luck with it.

smug, how are they proposing to use the centre at weekends?

I am not sure it is 'easier to access childcare funds'... childcare for children with high needs is very expensive. Equipment is usually what floats funders boats, not staff costs or administration.

They have said they will have occasional family days.

Saturdays will be the same pre-booked respite where parents have to go upstairs if they want to stay, and be crb checked, and pay. They are closed for groups on a Sunday - assume that is continuing.

It was very sad today, staff hugged me and said goodbye, volunteers were upset as they will not be needed now.

It makes no financial sense. The income of the other centres which run respite rather than drop in is far far lower than that of the centre we use.

Signed. The Hop, Skip and Jump in Gloucestershire used to be for mainly booked parties but they usually could sueeze in people who dropped in. You have to be a member or pay a donation, but the fact that siblings were welcome was fantastic for me as DS2 is in the middle of my 3 DC so I can't do anything much with him alone.