AAP KA HAQ LINK TEAM People Community & Society Directorate Zhara Hussain and Taseem Bibi 29/01/10

1. AAP KA HAQ LINK TEAMPeople Community & Society DirectorateZhara Hussain and Taseem Bibi 29/01/10

2. Purpose • To tell you how we as the Link Team and the Link Workers have made a difference to BME Families and young people who are involved in the transition process • To address some of the barriers experienced by BME communities when accessing services • Share good practice

3. Role of The Link Team • Carry out assessments and make services accessible for young disabled people, adults and families • Provide information • Provide language support • Develop confidence within the teams • Identify information from assessments and make recommendations for unmet needs • Develop partnership with non specialist agencies • Promote inclusion agenda through mainstreaming provision • Provide consultancy and supervisory support to individual staff and teams

4. Mission statement • Aap Ka Haq Link Team: will act as a link between young disabled people, adults with a disability, their families and services. Assisting in improving the quality of services and enable more appropriate and responsive service provision to and between the Black Minority Ethnic (BME) communities of Oldham.

5. Current Work • Offer co-facilitation option to individuals, their families and staff • Offer direct communication channels between the service and families • Develop and provide services to non-users • Plan, prepare and write support plans • Advocate on behalf of clients • Develop services that are more appropriate and accessible to meet the needs of the BME communities i.e. gender specific • Provide advice, information and signposting • Develop and co-ordinate the Ethnic Minority Action Plan (EMAP)

6. The Link Team • The Aap Ka Haq Link Team can be accessed by: • Adult Services (People, Communities Society Directorate) • Disabled people • Young disabled people, families and carers • BME communities

7. “Getting a Life Programme” 2008 - 2011 • Oldham is one of 7 pilot sites across England to research and create multi agency systems and practice to support learners with a learning disability into paid employment, outcome focussed FE; participation in the life of the community • In Oldham our aim is to bring together all of the services that are involved in the transition process for all disabled young people from BME communities. To develop and implement an integrated process that enables a smooth transition from school, through college or training into paid employment.

8. Young disabled BME people and families • As workers and professionals we must avoid falling into the trap of stereotyping and generalising about BME communities, religion and culture i.e. arranged or forced marriage, opportunities for young single BME women to progress into HE or paid employment. • 19.4%of the population in Oldham classify themselves as belonging to BME community. • A good proportion of the BME community do not have the employability skills required to gain paid employment . • Families are often unaware of the route of transition they frequently do not know about transition planning, connexions services, or specialist services including teachers, learning mentors and educational support staff.

9. Young disabled BME people and families • BME communities are unaware of 14-19 agenda and the vocational programmes offered by the FE college in Oldham. • Danger that professionals are not aware of or do not respond appropriately to significant safeguarding issues within the BME communities i.e. difference between an arranged/forced marriage opportunities for disabled young people to progress onto HE, paid employment and live the life they would choose. • Some families from BME communities may not fully understand what learning disability their child has. As a result planning a future for a disabled child becomes difficult.

10. Our Role • Raise expectations early within families and schools • We regularly keep in contact with families and provide updates on any new developments • Shadow families and advocate on their behalf • Link Team encourages young people and families from BME communities to take more control in planning their support and there by empowering them. Disabled young people from BME communities will have access to self directed support and individual budgets • Link Team focuses on the young person and seeks out their aspirations by ensuring that there voice is heard and their is a continuous dialogue which is developed with professionals who are involved in the transition process

11. Key Themes that need to be addressed • To encourage young BME people and their families to get involved in all decisions affecting their lives • Ensure accessible documents and procedures are translated for parents who cannot read English • Provided information about person centred planning as a tool for assessment to enable disabled young people from BME communities to ‘Get a Life’ • Encouraged self assessment as a critical tool in the Individualised budgets (IB) process • Promote the opportunity for paid employment as a long-term goal aiming high and encouraging people towards developing employability skills and there by independence

12. Achievements • Ensured all documents and procedures are translated in the relevant BME community languages • Person centred planning techniques have been used to ensure the individuals and their families are at the centre of the process • Families have been consulted in any decision making process that involves their child or young person • Carried out Home visits to reassure families and build their confidence • Link Team have taken risks and experimented with new ways of doing things • Link Team have encouraged joint working and open doors of communication • Link Team have minimised bureaucracy

13. How to engage effectively with young disabled BME people and Families • A total of 11 families were written to and invited to the Leadership Group meeting. • Link worker’s intervened and carried out home visits to each family and emphasised how important it was to attend the groups. This was followed up by a further phone call reminding them of the meeting. • Families were greeted at the door on the day of the meeting and were shown to the meeting room. • Interpreters were pre-booked to breakdown any specific language barrier. • Link workers were able to support families and empower them to engage with discussion during the meeting. • Link workers have developed a good rapport with the ‘GAL’ project families and now regularly keep them updated with any new developments.

14. Good Practice • Every effort needs to be made to listen and engage with families. • Link Workers need to support young disabled people at transition by supporting them to make the decisions that are right for them and their families. • Any information and support offered to them as individuals should be fully explained to all families from the BME communities using the language that is appropriate to them. • Link Worker involvement is crucial at transition this will help families understand the services better and breakdown any barriers and encourage a smooth and integrated transition process. • Promoting empowerment and independence is vital in the success of a young person from a BME communities ‘Getting a Life’.

15. Recommendations • Working in partnerships with other departments and agencies • Need for action research - early action to build confidence • Think big and take relevant small steps to achieve positive change • Organisations need to build on existing good practices - this does not mean all existing arrangements must change • Crucial for a senior management championing - to link unmet needs to service strategy and bring about organisational change • From a service perspective, changes need to be brought about by promoting holistic change not just individual change - which leads to dispelling the myths of setting up special services and people from minority ethnic communities being seen as ‘getting special treatment’

16. Questions?

17. Aap Ka Haq Link Team Link Centre 140 Union Street Oldham OL1 1DZ Tel: 0161 770 6869 Fax: 0161 770 3830 Email: zhara.hussain@oldham.gov.uk Taseem.bibi@oldham.gov.uk