Oxfordshire Family Support Network is a small charity run by families for families who have relatives with a learning disability and/or autism.
OxFSN have been successful in obtaining funding through The National Community Lottery Fund to run a three-year follow-on project from Embolden – which we are calling Embolden 2.
The aim of Embolden 2 is to provide older family carers with the support they need to help them plan for the future for their family member with a learning disability and /or autism.
We know many families worry about what will happened to their loved one when they are no longer able to provide the care and support for them. Where will they go? Who will provide the support? Will their siblings have the information they need to know what to do? At OxFSN, our aim is to work closely with older family carers to put a clear plan in place so that when your family member needs that future support, the detailed information that others need to know is readily available.
We plan to do this by holding some larger information events for all family carers on main topics including finances, supported accommodation etc. Alongside these events, we will be running some smaller group coffee and chat sessions across the county. These meetings will enable you to capture and record through person centred planning that information about your family member that you know so well because you care for them every day but will also be important to others, including siblings when they need to step in to that role. We want to help you think about all the things you need to have in place regarding wills and trusts, money management and court of protection. We want to work with you to develop a crisis care plan in case of unexpected emergencies.
We are family carers ourselves, and we know how daunting this can be so we want to be able to offer that support at a pace and place that works for you so that you have the ‘peace of mind’ that you have everything in place for your family members future.
We will be working closely with Oxfordshire County Council adult social care department, Oxford Health Learning Disability teams and support providers across Oxfordshire to ensure that they are aware of the numbers and the needs of people needing future support.
If you would like to know more about the project or would like to be involved, please get in contact with Kathy Liddell via email on kathy.liddell@oxfsn.org.uk or call 07821 987080 who will be happy to chat with you to tell you more about how the project will work.
We already have some dates for two events in 2023 which may be of interest.
Thursday 23rd March: Didcot Civic Centre 10am – 2.00 pm
Financial Planning and Money Matters which will cover Court of Protection, Wills and Trusts, Banking and Benefits
Thursday 8th June: Seacourt Hall, Botley 10 am – 2.00 pm
Supported Accommodation which will cover supported accommodation options, working with OCC and support providers, and how the move in to supported accommodation works.
We hope that through this project, we will be able to provide older family carers with the tools and the support they need to take away some of the worry that we know all families have when thinking about and planning for the future of their family member.