Page 5 - Leap Evaluation Report 2018

Foreword
We are pleased to share this, the first evaluation of our work encompassing the period from 2014 -2017. We
hope that you will enjoy reading this evaluation and that it will demonstrate to you, the reader, that strengths- based work with families of children with disabilities can produce significant outcomes in such families’ capacity to initiate and sustain positive change.
At the time of writing, Ireland has committed to the introduction of Personal Budgets for people with disabilities. This is good news; however, we believe that personal budgets will only act as a key enabler in the creation of inclusive futures for people with a disability when they are paired with a developmental vision for a person. In other words, the conditions for success for a child with a disability growing
up today are the empowerment
of their family in parallel to access
to disability funding in the form of individualised support. If we are to learn from history and other countries experiences, we can see that funding large, traditional, professionally driven services for people with disabilities; has achieved poor outcomes in people’s lives. Building inclusive and equitable societies starts with investing in families and communities - not seeking
to maintain a costly human service system of segregated programs and facilities. Families are their child’s greatest resource and most important advocates. A resilient family connected to community that has clarity of vision and understanding of their unique strengths and gifts, as well as their child’s strengths and gifts will be the most effective lifelong advocate for their child. We hope that this evaluation will guide Leap to be of greater service to families, communities and organisations who want to take positive action towards creating better lives for their children and who are seeking an asset- based approach.
Rachel Cassen, Director, Leap
Leap Evaluation Outcomes at a Glance
Evaluation commissioned October 2017
Review of Leap literature, documents & activities – National and International outputs
Consultation with Leap stakeholders – over 92% of stakeholders recognise the ‘shift in mindset’ after training with Leap
Key themes: Education; Empowerment; Social Change – ‘Change agents through group and support work and impacting social policy’
The Supporting Families Workshop Series empowered over 98% of people and families
Identified strategic outputs to form Leap’s strategic plan 2018 – 2021
‘Creating change, building sustainable futures’
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