News
Cedar Launches Inreach
Date Posted: Wednesday 09 December 2009
The Cedar Foundation today launched its Inreach Programme at a special festive gathering at Malone House in Belfast. Inreach is a 3 year action research project, funded with £390,000 from the Big Lottery Fund's Reaching Communities programme, which provides a flexible family support service to children with complex health care needs and their families in their own homes. Inreach aims to develop a respite service to support families, promote an innovative model of practice which will increase the well being of the whole family, and develop social networks for the child outside the home to interact with other young people their age outside of home or school environments.
Inreach was developed in response to research carried out by the University of Ulster which stated that in order to meet the challenge of promoting the rights and well being of children with complex heath care needs it is essential that a thoughtfully constructed service is established. Speaking at the event, Dr Rosario Baxter, co author of this initial research and Lecturer of Nursing at the University of Ulster School of Ulster said, "It is a delight to be here on this very happy occasion with some of the most important people in Northern Ireland-our families and congratulations to all of those involved in such a great initiative."
Inreach is delivered in partnership with The Belfast Heath and Social Care Trust and currently works with 10 families in the Belfast Trust area, providing 154 hours of support on a weekly basis. John Veitch, Co-Director for Children's Mental Health and Disability Services at the Belfast Trust said; "We are delighted to be working with The Cedar Foundation on this ground breaking project which provides much needed care to young people and their families in the Belfast Trust area. Cedar has a great track record of responding to identified needs by developing innovative programmes. I commend Cedar on their commitment to partnership work and on their achievements in supporting and helping disabled people."
Stephen Mathews, Chief Executive of The Cedar Foundation responded by saying; "Partnership working is a key tenet of Cedar and Inreach is a shining example of what can be achieved when organisations collaborate. I would like to thank the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust for their support in the development of Inreach. I would also like to thank The Big Lottery Fund for funding this action research programme which will, not only provide much needed direct care and support to disabled children and their families, but will inform the future development of these services throughout Northern Ireland."
Walter Rader, Big Lottery Fund NI Director, said: "The Reaching Communities programme is a very important part of our work in NI, ensuring that lottery cash reaches strong projects led by the voluntary and community sector that have a real and lasting impact on people lives. The Cedar Foundation's Inreach project will be supporting marginalised young people and their families within our society."
A special thanks goes out to the children of Fleming Fulton Primary School who came along to sing some Christmas carols and were the stars of the show.
Una Kennedy, who spoke at the launch on a parent's perspective, gave an interview to Sarah Travers for BBC Newsline which is available on their website here.
Copyright © 2005 The Cedar Foundation | Download Adobe Acrobat Reader
Designed and Developed by Biznet IIS