Parent Carer Voice - Influencing Change
One of the core aims of a Parent Carer Forum like PACC is to provide opportunities for Parent Carers to use their combined knowledge and experience to improve services, through co-production.
Co-production happens when the support system works with people who use services, as equal partners, to design and review how support is delivered. This can be at an individual level, when people have a say in how their own support is provided, at an operational level when a group of people who require a particular service come together to influence what that service looks like and at a strategic level where representatives of a community work with senior decision makers to inform how the system can most effectively meet local need and demand.
Co-production requires a combination of activity, all of which should be delivered in a coproduced way.
These are;
- Co-designing
- Engagement
- Consultation
- Informing
- Educating
Creating positive relationships, which allow for honest and open discussion, is essential for the delivery of Co-production. The Genuine Partnerships project in Rotherham recognised that Co-production requires trust built through four key principles.
- Welcome & Care
- Value & Include
- Communicate
- Work in Partnership
PACC promotes the need for the system to share good quality information, to listen to SEND families about their experiences of using services and provide opportunities to co-design what and how support is delivered, on both an individual and service level. If this happens the outcomes for both the SEND community and the system will be improved.
PACC's Co-production Bench
PACC has developed the Shropshire Co-production Bench to show how we aim to deliver Co-production in our work. We believe that Co-production is a shared and supportive experience, that benefits everyone. Our model combines the multiple approaches used to enable Co-production at all levels and deliver impact.