SIL 2013-14 Annual Report:SIL 2012 Annual Report 04/10/2013 10:08 Page 9
In 2002 negotiations with Health, Social Services and Education led to agreement to set up a new information service for disabled children and their families. SIGN (Sheffield Information Giving Network for disabled children and young people and their families) opened at Ryegate Children’s Centre on the 7th January 2002 and has been supporting parents, carers and professionals ever since). When the service was threatened with closure in 2011 parents and professionals were quick to come to the defence of this vital organisation. In 2012 the service was moved from its base at Ryegate to Sheffield Information Links city centre premises and citywide delivery began in earnest with the start of SIGNs outreach programme.
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fort Jones) of Martina Laird (Com ly opens the cial Casualty fame offi 2002 SIGN service in Sue James, our Disability Advice and Engagement Worker, took the service out into the local community to give families an opportunity to access information on their doorstep face to face. Sue went along to 20 Autism workshops where she was able to help families whose child had been recently diagnosed with Autism. She also attended parents evenings at local special schools and, more recently, Parents as Carers coffee mornings. During 2012/13 Sue met with 473 parents and carers at outreach sessions and was able to talk to them about the support that SIGN can offer.