Aiming High for Disabled Children - National Service Framework for Children

The Disabled Children's Standard is part of the National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services (NSF for Children). The NSF for Children is an important part of the policy context for the Aiming High for Disabled Children programme.

The standard is accompanied by exemplars on autism and complex disability. 

The main themes of the Disabled Children's Standard are:

• Services that promote social inclusion for disabled children and young people, to enable them to participate in childhood, family and community activities.
• Increased access to hospital and primary health care services, therapy and equipment services and social services for disabled children and young people.
• Services coordinated around the needs of the child and family.
• Services which provide early identification of health conditions, impairments and any social and physical barriers to inclusion, through integrated diagnosis and assessment processes.
• Better early intervention and support to parents of disabled children through the development of multi-agency packages of care, including the use of direct payments and employment of key workers.
• Palliative care is available for those who need it. A range of flexible, sensitive services is available to support families in the event of the death of a child.
• Services have robust systems to safeguard disabled children and young people, who are more likely to be vulnerable to abuse than non-disabled children.
• Multi-agency transition planning takes place to improve support for disabled young people entering adulthood.

More information about the National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services is available on the Department of Health website.

Further information about services for disabled children and young people is available on this website.