Access for Black and minority ethnic Children and young people with Disabilities and or chronic illnesses

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Needs Assessment/Community Profile

ABCD Cymru decided to undertake a piece of research with those families on our database (+200), to discover which services they are accessing and which they are not, and to discover what their experiences are. We took this opportunity to also review the services we provide and ask how we could improve.

As well as the above, we wnated to review the make up of all families who we work with in terms of the age, ethnicity, and areas they live in, adn what their disability or condition is, amongst other things. This information will be useful to plan our work and target any groups we are currently not reaching.

We received a grant from the venture Fund of the former Local Health Group towards this research. The project will be on-going as we will analyse the profile of our users on an annual basis to help us plan and set our priorities for the year ahead.

Below is an executive summary of the initial findings. The data was analysed by Paul Chaney of Cardiff University.

Executive Summary

• The parent carers of 44 children were initially interviewed in this survey, residing in various parts of Cardiff including Riverside, Grangetown, Roath, and Birchgrove.
• The largest grouping of children/young people (42%) was in the 12-16 age group.
• Nine languages were commonly used amonst the surveyed households.
• Almost a half of households had no person in paid employment.
• Many of the households were particularly vulnerable as they face several factors that lead to social exclusion, such as language problems and low income.
• A half of households received support from social services. All identified positive aspects of their dealings with them. Dissatifcation centred on communication problems (when interpreters were not used) and the limited available resources.
• Over half of the children.youn people have special educational needs. Of these, a majority were satisfied with the education that their children/young people received.
• Over half of the children did not recieve play or leisure facilities from 'external' organisations. A significant number said that they were not aware of the types of leisure facilities available. They would welcome information on the current play/leisure options in their area.
• Most of the families did not receive respite care.
• An overwhelming (80%) said that ABCD Cymru had been helpful to them.
• Day trips, play events, and acting as a source of information, advice and support were identified as the most useful aspects of ABCD Cymru's sevices.