Hartlepool Now

1 Hart, 1 Mind, 1 Future are the recognised Parent Carer Forum (PCF) for Hartlepool and was set up in 2008.

We are a group of Parents and Carers of children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and disabled children aged 0-25 who work alongside our local authority, education, health service and other service providers to make sure they plan, commission, deliver and monitor the needs of children and families.

We do this through active parent participation and ensuring parents have a voice.

As a Forum we work closely with Hartlepool Borough Council Short Break Lead to identify areas in which families feel short breaks could benefit them, whether this be overnight residentials to Carlton Camp to after school activities.

We also work closely with workforce development to ensure parents have access to free training alongside practitioners.

1 Hart, 1 Mind, 1 Future believes it is important to enable families with children with SEN and disabilities to live a fulfilling, active life.

Our forum has a number of social and recreational opportunities where the whole family can come to meet other families in similar situations.

We have:
• Monthly Cake and Coffee Mornings with guest speakers
• Monthly Family Day Activities for example Horse Riding, Ice Skating, Bowling, Social Get-togethers
• Monthly Parent/Carer Activities and Social Events
• Annual Conference and Celebrations

We work closely with many other services to enable us to reduce isolation to families in Hartlepool and help increase resilient parents.

We believe as a group of parents we have a voice to help shape services for our families future.