Realistically, short breaks like overnight care or family link services will only be provided for more severely disabled children. So unless your child has severe learning difficulties or complex needs and behavioural difficulties or physical disabilities, you are unlikely to get any respite care from your local council.
In order to get this kind of care, your child and your family will have to undergo an assessment by the social workers who are part of your local disabled children’s services.
Read more about getting a social care assessments.
Parents who do get more traditional types of respite will find that they are usually given a pick and mix of different types of short break, such as one night’s respite, one day a week at an inclusive play scheme in the holidays, and a befriender once a week.
I get two nights a week 5.30 – 8pm. They take her out, give her tea and get her ready for bed. They take her swimming and it’s just lovely, she’s doing normal things after school. I can’t take her otherwise, because of the other children.
The kinds of break available vary from region to region and according to your child’s age or disability. You may be get
outreach services to help your child or young person access activities in their community, often provided by charitable organisations, or be matched with a
link family who will care for your child on a regular basis in their own home.
Both Brighton & Hove and East Sussex provide overnight respite care in residential care homes such as Drove Road and Tudor House in Brighton, and Acorns in Bexhill-on-Sea. Or you can use your personal budget for social care to buy into a respite service run by a private or charitable organisation.
Children and young people with more complex physical disabilities or medical needs, or those with life-limiting conditions, may be able to access more specialist activities and residential short breaks at places like Chailey Heritage in East Sussex or Chestnut Tree House, near Arundel in West Sussex.
I’ve got Chailey, and it’s tailored to what Christina needs, and they have her for six hours a week in one block.
Read more about short breaks for disabled children requiring a social care assessment in Brighton & Hove
Read more about short breaks for disabled children requiring a social care assessment in East Sussex
Foster care
Mainstream fostering services can provide overnight or longer-term care for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, where the children are cared for in the foster family’s home. All carers go through a rigorous fostering assessment and care is taken to match suitable families.
Private care
If you’ve exhausted offers of help from your family and the forms of short breaks we’ve described above, there are some private short break agencies, though these are usually expensive. If your child has been assessed as eligible for a service and you are getting a personal budget, you could pay for them with your Direct Payments, as it is not usually possible to get funding for them. You will need to find out about the agencies yourself, for example, by doing an internet search.