A disability rights campaigner in Norfolk warns more families will be pushed in poverty
Almost a fifth of families say they've waited more than a year to be seen by children's social services- according to national work
A campaigner in Norfolk is telling us more families with a disabled child will be forced to use expensive private services for help- if long waits for social-care persists.
It's after work from a national group has found that families with a disabled child are facing average waits of more than 200 days to get assessments for social care.
Almost a fifth of families (17%) surveyed across the UK for national disability charity Sense said they had waited more than a year to be seen by children's social services.
"These changes would give disabled children and their families a proper start in life"
Mark Harrison lives in Norwich and is from 'disabled people against cuts':
He says the Government needs to step up:
"They really need to transform children's services, and that means investing more money into this so that they can be brought up to the required standards. These changes would give disabled children and their families a proper start in life.
"The proposed changes to benefits will have a devastating effect on children and families. It will throw more households into poverty
This work in more detail:
The polling, carried out by Censuswide, of 1,000 parents or carers of a disabled child in the UK in February and March this year suggested an average wait of around 210 days for an assessment by social services.
The charity, which said there are 1.8 million disabled children in the UK, said waiting for an assessment leaves families without appropriate support from their local authority.
Sense said there must be a new legal duty introduced to assess all disabled children "streamlining the process for families and ensuring all children get the best start in life".
"The social care system is failing disabled children"
Sense chief executive James Watson-O'Neill, called for "urgent reform" to ensure all children in need get adequate support "without facing unacceptable delays".
He said: "Access to high quality support can be life changing - it is the difference between a child feeling lonely and left behind, and a child having the support they need to grow, learn and thrive.
"But the social care system is failing disabled children and leaving families at breaking point. Parents shouldn't have to fight for the care their children deserve. We need urgent reform to ensure all children get the support they need without facing unacceptable delays.
"Disabled children should not be bearing the brunt of a broken system. We're calling on the Government to make disabled children a priority, by establishing a clear and consistent pathway to support and a national threshold to assess all disabled children.
"These must be backed by adequate funding and investment in local services."
The Government has been contacted for comment.