Who Are We?

Scarf (Supporting Children with Additional Needs, Relatives and Friends) is a charity based in the New Forest, Hampshire which organises regular term time clubs as well as holiday activities for children with additional needs and their families.  Children/young people are aged 0 -25 years and have a range of disabilities and additional needs, such as Down’s Syndrome, autism and cerebral palsy.

How to join

To join Scarf, families must live within the boundaries of the New Forest District Council and have a child/young person (aged up to 25 years) with a disability or additional needs.  Please click here for a map of the area that Scarf covers.

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Supporting children and their families up to the age of 25

Our Approach

Our approach is not just to meet the needs of the disabled child, but also to recognise the impact on the whole family, all of whom need fun and support.

We aim to create an inclusive and welcoming environment in which disabled children and their siblings feel comfortable and able to participate in a wide range of activities, and where adults and carers can enjoy meeting others in similar situations to themselves.    

Our term-time clubs include a Drama Club, a Youth Club and a Saturday morning Multi Sports Club.  During the school holidays we run a programme of activities for children with special needs as well as their siblings to take part in (with parents/carers staying for holiday activities).

Who we Support

Scarf welcomes families with a child/young person with any type of additional needs/disability, including those that are undiagnosed or under assessment.

Parents/carers support their own children at our holiday activities, and remain responsible for them throughout the activity. 

At our term-time clubs (Multi Sports and Youth Club) and Scarf 2 activities, where support workers are present, we strive to include everyone and our aim is that parents/carers do not need to stay for these activities. 

However, there may be times when we cannot meet a member’s needs without support from the parent/carer.  At present Scarf staff are not able to assist with lifting and intimate personal care needs – if a child/young person is likely to have needs in these areas during one of our clubs a parent/carer would need to stay on site and they would be responsible to support the child/young person’s needs during the activity.

Children/young people requiring extra support with their behaviour may not be able to attend all activities operated by Scarf.  Whilst Scarf support children and young adults with additional needs we also must consider the safety, health and wellbeing of all in the group including our support team.  For that reason, any acts of violence, aggression or abuse will not be tolerated.  Scarf will work with the support team and parents to understand the actions that lead to any incident and will decide whether Scarf can continue to support the individuals involved.

Please do contact a member of the Scarf team or Committee if you have any queries regarding the support needs of your child/young person.

A Parent-led Charity

Scarf is a parent-led charity.   We are a membership organisation – families pay an annual membership fee, and pay for activities they attend.  Scarf has a concessions fund available to those experiencing financial hardship.

Find out more

Scarf Membership icon

Memberships

We always welcome new members to the Scarf group.

Scarf fundraising

Fundraising

Scarf is a registered charity, and we rely entirely on the grants and donations that we receive.

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Scarf 2 

Scarf 2 is for young people from Year 11 upwards, ie: age 15/16 to 25 years.

Feedback Comments

Scarf Member
"We thoroughly enjoyed the activities we took part in. It was lovely to be able to meet other families. Communication and details on the activities were excellent."
Scarf Member
"Scarf activities gives children time to spend with friends and gives parents a chance to have a chat and swap notes on how to access things that maybe we didn’t know about. Scarf is a family that understands all our needs."
Scarf Member
"This year the activities were amazing, giving all the family a variety of things to do, the team did an amazing job in selecting the activities, well done."