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]

Fantastic! So pleased that you used people power and got a result. So many times nowadays it doesn't seem to make any difference but you lot rock .

Well done. Hope you can keep the pressure on them. I'll sign the petition.

This is for anyone confused about what's going on at Hop Skip and Jump, the special needs play centre in Kingswood.

There have been meetings about the changes (mentioned in the posts above) and most of the parents are very angry. Everyone is happy for more respite care to be available for parents who need it, but not at the sole expense of the very popular drop-in sessions. The future of the centre is still unknown, and still under consultation between the Trustees and the parents. Next public meeting is pencilled in for 4th Nov, to be held at HSJ.

It seems that many people do not know whether HSJ is open for the normal type of 'drop-in' at the moment and so are not going to the centre at all. It would be great if as many members as possible could come along for the 'valid' drop-in sessions (which are Tuesday afternoon and all day Wednesday this week).

Below are the opening times for HSJ over October Half-Term Holiday

MON 24th OCT - 10.00am - 5.30pm for daycare only
TUE 25th OCT - CLOSED in morning for Bristol Austism Project.
Open 1pm - 5.30pm Drop in as normal
WED 26th OCT - 10.00am - 5.30pm Drop in as normal with daycare also available
THU 27th OCT - CLOSED Bristol Austism Project, NAS South Glos & CLICSargent groups
FRI 28th OCT - 10.00am - 5.30pm for daycare only
SAT 29th OCT - 9.30am - 4.00pm for daycare only

The Parent representatives have been busy over the last week working together to formulate a draft of the Survey to establish the needs of parents of children with additional needs. This is due to be initially reviewed by the Foundation staff on Tues 25th Oct and we hope to send invitations to complete the survey to members of this mailing list in early November. If you are a parent of a child with additional needs, we need you to be part of this consultation in order to get an accurate view of the communities needs. Anyone wishing to do so can email [email protected] or call 0117 230 7299 with either an email or postal address and either an invitation to complete the survey, or a paper copy of the survey will be sent once the Survey is published.

If you would like to be involved in formulating the content of the survey, or are part of a group which is interested in involving their members - we would also be pleased to hear from you at [email protected].
If you would like to contact the Parent Representatives please contact us at [email protected].

Have a look at the latest press release from the trustees of this charity and let me know what you think about their views........

www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Clarifying-centre-s-role/story-13664515-detail/story.html

Urgh.........

Are they right that the drop ins stopped terminally ill and severely disabled children from accessing care?

No. There is no evidence of that at all. They already have a closed session each week for children with cancer and leukemia. All children have been able to access day care through the playscheme.

Now however, they are excluding children who are severely ill as they are actually unable to care for those with the most severe medical needs through lack of training. They are also not registered to receive direct payments. Before the changes parents on a low income could send their child on the play scheme free of charge, no longer. And its not because the centre can't afford it, they are awash with money.

They are excluding many many children with their short sighted misguided policy.

So their newspaper article is completely misleading then. It makes them sound completely reasonable

I know that our local groups all charge for soft play type sessions where all of the family can go together to cover costs so TBH I don't feel that it is a problem to charge a reasonable fee (even if they have lots of money). How expensive is it BTW?

Do they think that some families were "taking the mickey" out of their hospitality by being there all the time - sounds a fantastic facility to have so I am sure that I would have spent a lot of time there.