Sheffield hub for SEND children “at risk of having to close” as users speak out on benefits
“I’m worried about not having enough funding to be able to survive and us having to close.”
An organisation focused on giving disabled children in Sheffield a space is struggling to keep its doors open.
My Life Disability Hub is an activity club for children with special education needs and disabilities (SEND).
Operations director Jackie Burns is concerned about parental burnout and started the hub because her main priority is the parents.
“We want to give those parents a break, sometimes it's as simple as holding hands with each other, or going shopping because they don’t usually get that break,” she said.
“Children with autism never switch off, parents don't sleep because the child might run out of the door or out of the window onto the street.
“I’m worried about not having enough funding to be able to survive and us having to close.
“We know that these services are needed, the NHS is going to be at a breaking point soon because of the amount of children being diagnosed with SEND.”
Emmi-Paige Barton takes her son Preston, 9, to the hub, located on Blackburn Road near Wincobank, every week.
“He’s nearly 10 and if he wasn’t non verbal he’d be out with friends or the boys brigade, so I feel that this is a great alternative for SEND children,” she said.
“It gives us time to spend one on one with his sibling.”
Meanwhile, Robert attended his first session on August 30 with his mother Elizabeth Hansbury.
She said: “Robert is autistic and on the waiting list for his ADHD diagnosis, his additional needs restrict him from having the confidence to speak to others he doesn’t personally know. Since going to the hub, his confidence has grown so much.
“If the hub was to close, there wouldn’t be anywhere for children with additional needs to be themselves.
“It would personally affect me and my son as this hub gives me the respite, and also gives my son Robert the confidence to be with people other than his dad and I.”
Jackie doesn’t know why she’s struggling to find the funding.
To keep the organisation afloat, she relies on private donations from parents, social services, and her own efforts to fundraise.
Her husband makes hand poured candles, and at the start of December she will be doing an indoor bike ride covering the distance between London and Edinburgh across four-five days, meaning she will be cycling for 82 miles per day.
“I'm not reaching a target audience for some reason,” she said.
“We're in the process of registering for Ofsted so we can have younger children, and we're registering as a charity to be able to offer support with funding for parents.
“I want everyone to see what we have done because I am so proud of it, and to showcase what we hope to achieve.”