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To: West Lothian Council

Local Authority funding for The Tree Club

We want West Lothian Council to commit to providing financial support to The Tree Club Afterschool and Holiday Provision. Without this support the future of this unique and much needed service is at immediate risk of closure.

Why is this important?

The children that attend the Tree Club have complex needs that include communication difficulties, requirement of personal care, sensory and processing difficulties, and challenging behaviour. To support them and to meet the requirements of regulatory bodies such as the Care Inspectorate we provide a high staffing ratio and in depth training. This is a significant cost to the organisation that simply can’t be met by parent fees.

Our children have very few opportunities to access mainstream clubs and activities, if any. The Tree Club aims to bridge this gap. We endeavour to meet all our children/young people’s individual care plans. These plans detail the requirements for each young person to meet their full potential in relation to social and well-being targets. The Tree Club monitors and develops these plans, and supports each child’s individual outcomes, through carefully thought-out accessible activities, which focus on peer interaction, enhancing abilities and most important of all – providing fun play.

The Tree Club allows parents and carers to access quality and affordable after school care, matching the similar mainstream provision, that is unfortunately inaccessible for our children. We also provide holiday schemes, allowing carers greater choices to be able to either access or support their ability to work, or support respite and/or quality time for our young people’s siblings. We offer this respite which for most of our service users’ families is impossible to source elsewhere. This service provides a break from caring, an opportunity to recharge their batteries and a support network to discuss issues and behaviour techniques and coping strategies and reduces the social isolation they face.
West Lothian

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Updates

2017-06-12 21:45:31 +0100

500 signatures reached

2017-06-09 23:07:08 +0100

100 signatures reached

2017-06-09 19:25:48 +0100

50 signatures reached

2017-06-09 15:20:14 +0100

25 signatures reached

2017-06-09 13:20:26 +0100

10 signatures reached