When SEND support drops away in adulthood, caring doesn’t. We create spaces for parents and carers to have their voices heard – so adult services reflect real family life.
We now have a Post 19 Co-production Coordinator, Alice Boddy, who works with parent carers of young people approaching transition to adult services and beyond.
As young people move beyond school and children’s services, families often face an array of changes in education, health, and social care. Our Post-19 Co-production work helps bridge that gap, bringing families and professionals together to design adult services that truly work for young people with learning disabilities or autism.
What is Co-production
Co-production is about making sure services work with families, not just for them. It means families and professionals working together – combining what matters most to families with what services can offer.
Our Post-19 Co-production work brings parent carers and local decision-makers into the same room to share ideas, challenges and solutions. We recognise that not every young person with learning disabilities and autism can share their views directly, so parent-carers are an essential voice in shaping support and services that are relevant to the disabled adult, whom they care for.
Our Co-production Work
We want adult services to feel joined-up, realistic and shaped around real family life -recognising the hidden work and care that parents provide long after their children reach adulthood. Our Post-19 Co-production work focuses on the issues families tell us matter most as their young person moves into adulthood.
Together with parents and the council, we’re currently looking at:
- Adult social care and supported living: contributing parent-carer insight to the borough’s Placement Sufficiency Review so the right support is available locally.
- Employment and day opportunities: ensuring meaningful pathways for adults.
- Information and communication: improving how updates are shared so parent-carers can plan and access help early.
We do this through workshops, events, focus groups and ongoing conversations with families. Our work is driven by the needs of parents – so if there are issues, you’d like to raise or areas where you’d like more information, please get in touch.
What we do – Co-production Activities
Parentsactive plays a key role in representing parent carers at local decision-making tables. Through our focus groups and consultations, we gather feedback and experiences directly from families and share them with council teams and NHS partners.
These sessions allow you to talk about what’s working well, what isn’t, and what could be improved — whether it’s around education, therapies, social care, or transitions.
Every voice counts, and the insight shared by parents in these groups helps influence real change in local SEND policies and services.
Recent projects include:
- Family Hubs
- OT Transformation Project
- Quality Assurance for EHCPs
- Placement sufficiency review – adult services
Parents from Parentsactive also sit on a wide range of committees, boards, and working groups across Hammersmith & Fulham. This ensures that the real experiences and perspectives of families are represented whenever decisions are being made about SEND services.
Our parent representatives work alongside the local authority, NHS and voluntary sector partners to influence policies, improve communication, and shape how support is delivered.
If you’re interested in becoming a parent representative or learning more about how you can get involved, we’d love to hear from you.
Contact us to find out more.
