Who we are
The National Valuing Families Forum was set up at the time of Valuing People.
Valuing People was a big plan to improve the lives of people with learning disabilities and their families.
The plan was followed in 2009 by Valuing People Now a further three year plan.
Valuing People had a families lead and the National Valuing Families Forum was created to make sure that families across the country were able to inform its progress in delivering rights, inclusion, choice and independence.
‘Nothing about us without us’
The Government wanted to hear about what was happening from families of people with learning disabilities across England.
In Valuing People Now the National Valuing Families Forum created a programme of work based on their priorities of:
- Building and sustaining the capacity of mainstream carers organisations to meet the needs of family carers of people with learning disabilities
- Supporting people with learning disabilities who are carers
- Supporting families from black and minority ethnic communities
- Supporting older family carers
Examples of the work that came from this programme can be found in Our Information
The forum is made up of family carer representatives from each of the 9 regions in England.
Each representative is supported by a regional forum. The members of the regional forums find out what the issues are for families in their areas and they tell the national forum.
There is also a family carer representative who sits on the Autism Programme Board, and a representative for carers of people with learning disabilities from the Carers with Learning Disabilities Network.
The Forum also has a number of ‘allies’ organisations and individuals working with family carers who are also members of the forum.
The National Valuing Families Forum meets three times a year.