When a child or young person is diagnosed with a disability or serious illness, everything changes for both that child and for other children in the family. The services we provide support parents and carers and children and young people at an early stage to enable families to cope with changes and build on their strengths to face challenges in the future. Sherwood’s Cystic Fibrosis group and Butterfly service provide essential ongoing support, particularly at times of crisis or change. Our goal is to work with families to achieve their wishes and dreams for their children and help them to create positive memories. This range from small desires like seeing their child smile and laugh, to big dreams such as going on a family holiday or attending school. The Cystic Fibrosis Group This Group supports children and young people living in Nottingham who have Cystic Fibrosis. We take a holistic approach in the support we provide and embrace the whole family. We aim to maximise the quality of life of those affected by: Enabling children, young people and families make informed choices about the management and treatment of Cystic Fibrosis Providing emotional and practical support to help make informed choices at key stages of a child’s life Offering a loss and bereavement service to parents and siblings Providing fortnightly support groups and activities for siblings of the child or young person suffering from Cystic Fibrosis Increasing awareness and understanding of the needs of people affected by Cystic Fibrosis Providing information regarding financial entitlements Providing activities which children with Cystic Fibrosis can take part in The Butterfly Service This group is for families where a child (up to the age of 19) has a life limiting illness. We help by going into the children’s’ homes and providing advice around issues which matter to them, such as difficulties with school or friends due to their condition, as well as advice and support for the rest of the family. Additionally, we help families to access appropriate services for their children, advocating on their behalf at appointments which they find stressful, daunting and confusing. Through this we assist families in ensuring that their child’s care needs are taken care of. The Butterfly Service also provides a programme of activities over the summer holidays for the siblings of children with life limiting illnesses. This includes pizza and cake making, music and dance sessions and arts and crafts. Some of the children and young people who come along have a sibling in hospital; our activities give them the opportunity to do something fun in their holidays and enable their parents to concentrate on their sick child. Our activities also give the children and young people the chance to be with others who understand how they are feeling and how isolating their experiences can be, having such a sick brother or sister. £5000 – will contribute towards our art therapy or music therapy for children and young people, who struggle to find words to express their feelings either their fear or sadness about their lives. £10,000 – could fund our young disabled people’s participation group, this is a group with profound and multiple disabilities, many with communication difficulties or a year of a part-time youth worker to involve young people in independent activities.