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Statement from the Family Information Group (30th
May 2008) Family Information Group Closes Doors
The end of May 2008 signals the closure of the Family Information Group
as a full time organisation. It was founded eleven year ago by parents and
relatives of disabled children to raise issues affecting them and other families.
The Group has been unable to secure funding to continue.
The organisation worked throughout Northern Ireland, and further afield.
It advocated with parents, raised awareness of their issues, provided information,
gathered evidence through research and worked closely with statuary and voluntary
organisations in trying to address these issues.
Issues included: the provision of relevant timely information in an appropriate
form, early and ongoing support for families, a realistic awareness of what
it is like to be a family with a disabled child, short breaks, services which
meet family needs in a co-ordinated way, to name a few. Seldom do these issues
sit high on the priorities of government departments.
For over six months, both publicly and privately and with the support of
over 200 individuals, politicians and organisations, the Group have tried
to secure funding. To no avail. Those who set out what is important to fund
(priorities) and those who plan and deliver services in response to these,
are not listening.
Replies from Ministers in DHSSPS, DSD, DE and OFMDFM have only frustrated
the Group's efforts at securing a future
The Family Information Group was founded on the idea that those who use
services should be involved in the planning and provision of services (user
involvement). Currently it appears that it is still other people (whether
ministers, civil servants or elected politicians) making decisions about
peoples' lives.
"Thanks are due to all those in statutory and voluntary agencies and
individual politicians without whom, we would not have survived and developed.
But most important are all the parents and relatives of disabled children,
including the past and current management committee. It is the end of an
era."
(Brendan Mc Keever, the Group's founder member and Facilitator)
