Welcome to Portage!

Portage is a home visiting educational service for pre-school children with additional support needs and their families. It takes place in the child's own home and aims to equip parents with the skills and confidence they will need to help their child, no matter what the child's difficulties may be. Portage offers practical help and ideas to encourage a child's interests and make learning fun for all the family.

Membership of the National Portage Association is growing steadily. There are currently around 150 Portage services registered with the National Portage Association and Portage is being used by approximately 4,500 children and families across the U.K.

To find your nearest Portage Service look in the Directory of Registered Services.

To contact the NPA parent representatives or Portage for any other enquiries, please click here

The Sharing Concerns Project

These are some of the reactions expressed by parents on being given the news of their child's disability. The parents, who came together through West Birmingham Portage Service, subsequently formed the Sharing Concerns Project to promote good practice not only at the time of diagnosis or when concerns are first raised, but also in the follow-up care offered by health, education, and other agencies.

The result of a productive collaboration between the Portage parents group and health and education professionals, the Sharing Concerns materials (video and training handbook) are a notable contribution to an area of practice which increasingly recognises the necessity of genuine dialogue between families and professionals. The video also contains excerpts from the drama "Moments", devised and written for the Sharing Concerns Project by Women and Theatre from research based on the actual experiences of families.

The Sharing Concerns materials are suitable for a range of practitioners with different professional backgrounds, but who are all involved in the education, health or social care of young children with disabilities and their families.

The materials provide a framework of principles through which professionals can develop and reflect on their own practice in this difficult and sensitive field.

West Birmingham Portage Service and Parents Group
0121 303 0100
gillian_king @birmingham.gov.uk

To contact Portage for any enquiries, please click here.