The Exeter Parent Carer Network is a community project striving to link up parents, carers, siblings and children with additional needs.

In Devon, 17% of school pupils have Special Educational Needs, as compared with the national average of 14.4% and as such, services for children with additional needs and their families are incredibly stretched and the Exeter Parent Carer Network hope to bridge some of the gaps by supporting, signposting and helping parents.

We currently run the weekly Exeter Parent Carers Cafe at the Phoenix Community Cafe in Exeter but hope to expand to include an extra weekly session as well as a monthly weekend cafe for working parent carers.

The cafe provides an enriching and fulfilling space for parent carers to escape their (often isolated) homes and join other parents for a cup of coffee, a sympathetic ear, and some much needed social interaction.

In addition, we plan to provide sensory toys and equipment that will enable parents to bring their children along to our safe environment.

We also aim to provide a lending library service of resources, books and information that parents can borrow from.

The impact on siblings of children with additional needs can be as isolating and difficult as being a parent carer, and as such we hope to provide a fortnightly youth club for siblings to meet others in similar situations in a supportive and fun environment.

Funds Raised will help us to:

Hire the space to add further Parent Carer Cafe Sessions.

Hire space to provide the Siblings Youth Club.

Provide activities for siblings who attend the Youth Club.

Expand our library books and resources for parent carers, siblings and children with additional needs to borrow.

Create a safe space for children to play with sensory specific toys and eventually, a sensory play room.

Thank you for reading and for your donation, all money raised will help us provide support for many local families.