EPIC Luton Parent Carer Forum

Empowering Parents, Influencing Change in Luton (EPIC Luton) is the official Department for Education (DfE) funded Parent Carer Forum (PCF) for Luton Borough.

As a group of parents and carers of children and young people aged 0-25 who have additional needs and/or special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), we have formed a committee to re-establish a PCF in this area to give SEND families a collective voice.

Our Aim

Our aim is to make sure that services in Luton meet the needs of SEND children and their families. We will do this by working with other parents and carers to understand the issues they may be facing and the needs of parents in Luton, so when we are engaging with professionals we are able to communicate parental perceptions, experiences and work together with them to help to address issues identified. In addition, we aspire to provide parents and carers opportunities to benefit from each other’s experiences and make informed choices for their children.

Register to become a member today

Parents/carers

We at EPIC Luton want parents and carers to join us in making a difference in Luton to ensure your voices are heard. You can do this in a number of ways which include becoming a Member, Volunteer or Parent Representative.

Associate Members

EPIC Luton also offers Associate Membership to any individual who is interested in keeping up to date with our work but is not themselves a Parent/Carer of a child/young person aged 0-25 with additional needs/SEND in Luton.

This may include:

• Professionals who work with children/young people aged 0-25 with SEND
• Those working in the voluntary and private sector
• Parents/carers whose young person with SEND is now over the age of 25 
• Wider family members

Membership is free and helps us stay connected with Parents/Carers/associates across Luton. In return we can send you updates and information about EPIC Luton projects.

How to register

To access our registration form, click on the link below. Alternatively copy and paste the link into your web browser and press return.

EPIC Luton Membership Form

If you experience any difficulty in registering, you can email us at contactus@epicluton.org and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

Contact us

For further information or general enquiries please email us at contactus@epicluton.org  and we will get back to you.

Where you can find us

You can follow us on:

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/epicluton

Twitter  http://www.twitter.com/epicluton

Instagram  http://www.instragram.com/epicluton

Linked in http://www.linkedin.com/company/epicluton/

Our username is @epicluton

Visit our website: https://www.epiclutonpcf.org/

Parent/carer support and information group

We have a WhatsApp support group, which parents and carers can access to support one another as well as access up to date information regarding local SEND provision, coffee sessions etc. Parents and carers can be added at the time of registration or opt in by emailing us at contactus@epicluton.org

Meet the Steering Committee

Ruqsana Khan | Co-Chair

Ruqsana is one of EPIC Luton's Co-Chairs. She lives in Luton with her husband and their seven-year-old son. Her son has additional needs and currently attends a mainstream school. He has an Educational Health and Care Plan to help meet his needs.

 Ruqsana has been part of EPIC Luton since its formation. Her primary reason for joining was to have the opportunity to share experiences and meet like-minded parents and carers who understand what life is like as a SEND family. She also wants to see parents empowered to make informed choices for their SEND children.

 She aims to play a key role in shaping local services, to make Luton more accessible and inclusive for SEND families.

Email: ruqsana@epicluton.org

Raja Asim | Co-Chair

Raja was born and raised in Luton. He lives with his wife and their ten-year-old daughter, who has additional needs. Raja’s daughter has an Educational Health and Care Plan to help meet her needs and attends a mainstream school.

Raja is one of EPIC Luton’s founding members. His primary motivation to join the forum was to better equip himself on how to support his daughter but he eventually became part of the Steering Committee after seeing the lack of male parent and carer participation.

He aims to highlight the struggles of parents and carers with their own additional needs, who are navigating local services for their SEND family and request changes are implemented in Luton to make services more accessible.

Email: rajaasim@epicluton.org

Maria Ahmed-Shaikh | Co-Chair

Maria has recently joined our Steering Committee and due to her personal and professional experiences she has come on board as our newest Co-Chair.

She is Austrian born and is a retired Operation Department Practitioner.

Maria lives with her husband and is raising her twelve-year-old son, who has epilepsy. Her son has an Educational Health and Care Plan and attends a specialist school.

Maria would like to see a system with professionals and practitioners that recognise the expertise of the parents and carers when it comes to their SEND child/children as they are the specialist in the situation. 

Email: maria@epicluton.org

Toseef Khan | Treasurer

Toseef moved to Luton from London eight years ago and lives here with his wife and son who has additional needs.

He has previous experience in bookkeeping and has a good head for numbers.

He initially joined EPIC Luton with the intention to find out more about the SEND community to support his child. However, he has since joined the steering committee, utilising his previous experience to become the forum's treasurer.

Email: toseef@epicluton.org

Elizabeth Ame | Steering Committee Member

Elizabeth moved to Luton in 2015 and lives with her family.

Elizabeth aims to make a real change in society. At present she does this through her volunteer work with charities and has experience supporting young adults at day centres. She has also previously prepared meals for the homeless.

She aims to highlight the importance of accessibility to support the services for families of pre-diagnostic children and young people.

Email: elizabeth@epicluton.org

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Fadumo Hassan | Steering Committee Member 

Fadumo lives in Luton with her husband and has caring responsibilities for her son who has complex needs.

Fadumo is one of the committee’s original members and is dedicated to improving services for SEND children with complex needs.

Email: contactus@epicluton.org

Oluwatosin Zita Adeoye (Zita) | Steering Committee Member

Zita lives in Luton and is a mother to a child who has additional needs.

She initially joined the forum to find out what support and services are available for SEND families.

Zita aspires long-term to be able to support other parents/carers navigating through the SEND system.

Email: contactus@epicluton.org

Ibrar Ahmed-Shaikh | Steering Committee Member

Ibrar is raising his 12-year-old autistic son who has epilepsy. In his spare time he advocates for families and children in court and specialises during legal proceedings in the Children Act 1989. 

He is enthusiastic to introduce stringent changes within local authorities which ensure the safeguarding aspect of SEND children.

Email: contactus@epicluton.org