Housing And Disabled Children

The report highlights services that address the housing needs of disabled children and their families in a positive way, and that have been commended by families themselves. It also highlights the key features of services that families and children find most helpful, and provides a handy checklist against which service providers can assess the effectiveness of their services.Housing and disabled children is an invaluable resource for the diverse range of practitioners who work with disabled children and their families, as well as an opportunity for potential and current service users to find out more about different types of service provision across the UK.

Housing Matters presents evidence to support and inform change in policy and practice to ensure that the housing needs of disabled children and their families are better met. The report challenges traditional notions of housing need, calling for a reconceptualisation that embraces all impairments, focuses on child-centred needs and extends beyond the 'four walls' of the family home. The findings of the report are discussed and interpreted within the context of current policy and practice. Housing Matters is an invaluable resource to practitioners and managers working in health, social service and housing departments and the voluntary sector; housing providers; architects; local councillors; and those with responsibility at a national level for meeting the needs of disabled children and their families.

There are approximately 150,000 families caring for severely disabled children in Britain. These children have been identifies as a group who 'slip through the net' in terms of meeting their housing needs. This is the first in-depth study of the impact of housing on the lives of disabled children and their families.Homes unfit for children:describes parents' perceptions of the impact of housing on their caring and patenting responsibilities;describes disabled children's experiences of living in their homes;identifies housing needs particular to disables children and their families, as opposed to disabled adults and their carers;describes families' attempts to deal with unsuitable housing;reports professionals' perspectives on meeting the housing needs of families with disables children.The research shows that poor or unsuitable housing has a significant impact both on the care burden imposed on parents and,equally importantly, on the degree to which a disabled child can attain as independent and normal a childhood as possible.Homes unfit for children identifies areas of policy and practice where improvements are urgently required - including obtaining adequate adaptations and achieving appropriate house moves. In many cases, an adaptation or even a move did not solve housing difficulties often because of inadequate and insufficient advise and support.This report is essential reading for managers and front-line workers in housing agencies, occupational therapists, social services departments and the voluntary sector, as will as those involves in policy development in the Departments on Health, and of the Environment, Transport and the Regions.

In 1998 the Joseph Rowntree Foundation published Homes Unfit for Children (The Policy Press). The launch of the report was highly successful in stimulating action in the area of meeting the housing needs for disabled children. This book follows on from this report. It outlines a series of actions, all involving joint working between housing, health and social services professionals, which will render the domestic environment less unsuitable and enhance the quality of life of disabled children and their families. It represents a highly successful partnership between researchers and practitioners which identifies solutions to service provision problems.

This book is divided into two sections, the first offering information on selecting a house or apartment. If the parents of disabled children see a need for renovation and can afford it, the book offers relevant information on building codes as well as guide to determine the family's spatial requirements. The second section deals with specific areas of the house-- the bathroom, kitchen, bedrooms, for example-- and how they can be changed to be made barrier-free.

Disabled children who are unable to live at home are doubly needy: in addition to their disability, they are deprived of normal family life. Children who do not grow up in a stable, nurturing environment are unlikely to achieve their potential. Moreover, disabled children often have complex medical problems. Disabled children living away from home are often involved with many different professionals: although individually these professionals may provide appropriate support, the sum of their efforts rarely adds up to the actions of a ‘good’ parent. The book considers the key issues that must be addressed when disabled children move from the family home to new accommodation. It provides insights into the difficulties that these children face and looks at how the standards of care that they receive might be improved. It also makes suggestions about how professionals might work more effectively with each other and with the children's care-givers.

This book provides a comprehensive investigation of housing issues for disabled people from a social model perspective. Documenting historical and current trends, it looks at policy, barriers to housing options and meanings of 'home'. Such a review is crucial to understanding the varying housing needs and desires of disabled people, particularly in the current economic climate. The book is a practical resource for housing policy makers and practitioners, and will be of interest to academics and students in the field.