Involve siblings in your service

1.   Recognise the lifelong aspect

• Adult siblings have not only a lifelong need for information and support but also a lifelong relationship with their disabled brothers and sisters

2.   Identify adult siblings through your service

• If you mainly liaise with parents of disabled people, ask them if there are siblings in their family and encourage them to link siblings into your service
• Raise awareness of adult sibling issues with your colleagues.  Invite an adult sibling to talk to your staff group about his/her experiences
• Put on an evening event for adult siblings to learn more about your service, to give you feedback on your service, and to meet others in a similar situation

3.   Acknowledge adult sibling's experiences and feelings

• Ask them how they are and listen to what they say
• Talk to them about how they are finding things with their disabled brothers/sisters
• Find out more about what they do to support their disabled brothers/sisters
• If they are providing care ask them if they would like you to initiate a carer's assessment
• Talk to adult siblings about whether their family has made plans for the future and if they need help with this

4.   Involve adult siblings in decisions and discussions about their disabled brothers and sisters

• Defer to adult siblings in-depth personal knowledge about their brother/sister  - in areas such as health, communication, personal preferences
• Involve adult siblings in review meetings, person-centred planning meetings, and care plans
• Ask adult siblings for their opinions on plans for and changes to your service
• Ask adult siblings about what your service could do to enhance the quality of life for their brothers/sisters
• If you work in a care setting, make it easy for adult siblings to spend time with their disabled brothers and sisters, by making them feel welcome and having a suitable meeting space

5.   Signpost adult siblings to sources of support and information

• Inform adult siblings about Sibs www.sibs.org.uk  and CarersUK  www.carersuk.org
• Let adult siblings know about local services that are available for themselves and for their disabled brothers/sisters