Special needs facility facing closure after funding runs dry

A CHARITY which offers help to children with special needs and their parents is facing closure due to a funding crisis.

Children Inc, described by parents as “a lifesaver”, only has enough money to continue for another six weeks after other funding sources ran out.

Now the parents committee is desperately seeking cash to keep the much-needed organisation – which helps youngsters in the Greater Pilton area – on its feet.

Jackie Paterson, 41, one of the parents spearheading the fundraising campaign, said there were dozens of families in the north of the city who could not do without the charity.

“The difference it makes for both children and their parents is incredible,” said Ms Paterson, who takes her nine-year-old son Sam, who has a rare and complex learning disability, to the centre three times a week.

“The children can participate in things like art and sport lessons and get one-to-one help with trained people.

“We’ve never qualified for council funding and we’ve tried so many other avenues, but without some kind of help our reserves will disappear and we’ll be forced to close.”

The organisation employees one full-time staff member, who was described by one mother as “the most committed person I’ve ever met in healthcare”, and some part-time workers.

It was set up seven years ago by parents in the absence of any other organisation supporting children with special needs aged between five and 12, and did previously receive Big Lottery funding. But staff, accommodation and equipment costs can no longer be sustained unless a backer is found.

Dawn Greaves, 37, a full-time mother from Drylaw whose seven-year-old daughter Cissie has Asperger’s syndrome, also makes full use of the facility. She even brings along her other son Sydney, four, for the family day out every Friday.

The centre is just as valuable for the parents of disabled children, who can feel isolated, she said, and many would be left with nowhere to go should it close.

She said: “I discovered it a year ago and was just shocked there was somewhere like this we could go.

“I was even more surprised it didn’t get council or government funding because it’s just such a worthy cause. Going there is a lifesaver, it can turn a bad day into a good day, and without it I don’t know what we’d do.”

Inverleith councillor Lesley Hinds, who is also Labour’s health and social care spokeswoman, added: “Like many organisations in this area they are small but vital. It’s a shame when Lottery funding just runs out for these charities but hopefully they can get something sorted out.

“Parents in this position can feel very isolated and groups such as Children Inc can really make a difference.”