Family support centre struggling to match demand

A charity supporting families with children with additional needs says demand is already outstripping supply, just weeks after it moved into its new home.

Building For the Future had been based in Wokingham, Berkshire, but moved to a site on the outskirts of Reading, just in time for the start of the summer holidays.

It is now fundraising to lay on extra sessions after it was forced to turn some families away.

Jane Holmes, founder and CEO of the charity, said: "We still are absolutely inundated. We're getting more requests every day."

The charity, which has operated for 19 years, provides accessible play and leisure services for children and young adults with disabilities and additional needs.

It was founded by parents of children with disabilities who recognised the need for accessible play and now serves 1,000 children and their families.

Despite moving to a bigger centre, Holmes said it "broke our hearts" when the charity had to turn away about 35 families because it had reached capacity.

When the charity first took over the site "it was an empty shell," she said.

"It was just bare concrete. We had no plumbing, no electrics, nothing. It has been a huge labour of love and very stressful, but very exciting."

For many parents who come to the charity's centre it is a safe place for their children to freely play with others.

One of them is Beth, whose son Zac was diagnosed with autism when he was three and has seizure and global developmental delay, a condition in which children fall significantly behind key milestones for children under the age of five.

Beth said the standard playgroups didn't work for Zac and "didn't really get that sense of belonging".

But when she arrived at the play session for the first time they she says they were "welcomed with open arms".

She added: "It's a place where we can come as a family and Zac can just be himself."

But it isn't just Zac who benefits from the sessions. Beth has made lots of friends through the charity.

She said: "I can connect with other parents in similar situations because it is difficult having a child with a disability."

She added that meeting other parents in the same situation was "good support" and she has made "really good friends here myself".

Brenda took her son Theo who is on the autism spectrum to the play session for the first time and was very pleased with the new centre.

She said: "Places like this are so important for families like us to have somewhere where we can come and just be ourselves and our children can be themselves."

Brenda added that it is hard "when you have a very high-needs child to be in public spaces, you feel judged or they might do something unpredictable".

Although the charity currently supports over 400 families, it anticipates, that number will grow with the new centre.