Who can use Amaze?

Amaze is for any family in Brighton & Hove or East Sussex that includes a child or young person with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) aged 0-25. We work with children and young people with SEND and with their parent carers.  Your child does not need to have a formal diagnosis to get support from Amaze though some of our services have rules about who is eligible. 

Services for all eligible families

Amaze services that any family in Brighton & Hove and East Sussex can use

Services with specific eligibility criteria

The following Amaze services can only be accessed if your child or young person meets certain criteria: 

  • The Compass Card – for families with 0-25s with additional needs that have a significant affect on their daily life. Read more about The Compass 
  • ND Family Support– for families with children and young people on the neurodevelopmental pathway for conditions such as autism and ADHD. Read more about NDP. 
  • Amazing Futures Careers service is for young people aged 14-25 in Brighton & Hove. Some young people in East Sussex can get advice if they already attend our Amazing Futures groups. Read more about AF 
  • Some of our parent carer and young people’s groups are planned to welcome particular people e.g. the Dad’s Group or the Amazing Futures Young Women’s Group 

FAQs

What is a parent carer?

When Amaze says we work with parent carers, we mean  anyone in the parent role for a child or young person with SEND including foster carers, grandparents and other kinship carers.

What is SEND?

When Amaze says we work with children and young people with SEND, we mean any child or young person aged 0 to 25 with a learning difficulty, a physical/sensory disability, difficulty with communication or with their social, emotional or mental health. SEND also includes children and young people with long term health conditions or life-limiting illnesses.

What age children and young people do we support?

When we say we work with children and young people, we mean children and young people aged 0 to 25 years, although our direct work with children and young people is generally from 14 up.

Does everyone get the same service?

Sometimes we work in quite a light-touch way; at other times, we may be much more hands-on and we have to decide what to offer each person. We try to do this in a fair way and you can read about how in our  Amaze Level of service policy 2022.

How do I get referred to Amaze?

Most people using our service have referred themselves via our advice line or one of our other services. You can make an online referral using our parent carer registration form.

We are delighted when professionals such as teachers, social workers or health visitors encourage families to use Amaze but it’s usually best if parents or young people make contact with us themselves. If you think we could be of help to a parent or young person please show them this website or get them contact the service they require. See our Contact us page.

You could help them leave a message if you think they will find it difficult. But if this would create a barrier to them using Amaze, please get in touch so we can work out an alternative. We will not contact anyone unless we know they have given consent for this.

What if I don’t live in Brighton & Hove or East Sussex?

If you’re not local, there is still a wealth of useful information on this website which you are very welcome to read or download – much of it will be relevant to all families.

To get advice and find out about services in your local area, use the Local Offer for your local authority or visit the Contact website