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Children’s special needs charity, Sends Support are to give free support to parents across Derbyshire after they received a £10,000 bursary from the National Lottery.

The funding will enable the Tibshelf-based not-for-profit organisation to waive the £25 per hour charge families, who have children with complex and additional needs, usually incur for advice and support.

Sends Support was founded by Nicola Warner and Eloise Barnett – two former special needs teachers – in 2018 with the aim to support parents, who have disabled children, at home.

Nicola Warner (left) and Eloise Barnett (right) set up Sends Support in 2018 to help families who have children with additional needs.

The charity helps families mirror the structure and routine disabled children have in school and translate it to a home environment with strategies, guidance and on-call support.

Sends Support director and consultant Nicola Warner explained how the grant will help struggling parents who have children with complex needs.

"We are having phone calls from parents at nine or 10 o'clock at night absolutely in bits because they don't know what to do”, she said.

"We want to be there 24/7 and we want them to be able to phone and we can pick it up and give them some advice to get them through the meltdown that is happening, there and then.”

The pair behind Sends Support, Nicola (left) and Eloise (right), rely on grants and donations to fund their charity work.

The charity, who has supported over 80 families, is concerned about how parents who have disabled children are coping during the coronavirus crisis – now that any respite they used to receive while they were at school has been removed.

Sends Support consultants are using online chats and phone calls to keep in touch with carers and offer advice while children are being home-schooled.

Nicola shared how their service is helping parents to foster a better relationship with their children.

"It's a real lifeline for families and the feedback we get from parents is amazing.

"A lot of the children are not diagnosed and we aren't medical professionals but we have a lot of experience of children with additional needs and we would point them in the right direction.

"For a parent to then understand their behaviours it is massive.”

To find out more information email [email protected].

Free support for Derbyshire parents of children with additional needs