Introduction
The following are a number of agencies and organisations that may be useful to know about when involved in facilitating parenting groups or family support. Some are agencies that parents may find it helpful to contact, some have useful web sites and some can provide specialist parenting courses.
The BBC provides a useful general website for information on parenting. BBC Parenting
ADHD Family Support
A UK alliance providing information on ADHD for the ADHD community. Information, news, events and links to local support groups.
The Association for Post-Natal Illness
This is a national charity which works through an extensive network of local volunteers, to advise and support women suffering from post-natal depression.
To access help, ring the national number and they will put you in touch with the local help available. NAPI also offers training for those who offer themselves as volunteers.
The Association for Post-Natal Illness, 145 Dawes Road, Fulham, London. SW6 7EB
0207 386 0868 : info@apni.org
Care for the Family
Care for the Family is a national Christian charity with its headquarters in Cardiff. It aims to strengthen family life, throughout the UK, and to help those hurting due to family break-up. Over the past 12 years, hundreds of thousands of people have attended the charity's events, workshops and holidays. Thousands more have been helped through counselling, resources, training and personal correspondence.
Rob Parsons is the Executive Director and founder of Care for the Family and is also an international speaker, broadcaster and author. A qualified lawyer, he lectures regularly to the legal profession. He has written numerous best sellers, (see bibliography).
CFTF also organise family building breaks. The One to One Challenge is a great opportunity for a parent and child to enjoy quality time together participating in challenging activities over a weekend. Take a Break susidised holidays are designed for single parents and their children to have fun, excitement and challenge together, they can offer a lifeline to parents who discover they are not alone in their task through meeting and sharing with others in similar circumstances, often gaining new friends as well. Also provides information sheets and newsletters.
Care for the Family, PO Box 488, Cardiff. CF15 7YY
029 2081 0800 : mail@cff.org.uk
Children's Information service.
As part of it's National Childcare Strategy, the government is committed to improving access to information for all. To help bring this about, local councils are required to set up a Children's Information Service. As well as providing information which may be useful to churches, this may be a good place to publicise any parenting courses or similar services your church provides. To find out about any Children's Information Service in place in your area, call the national parent help line on 08000 960296.
CRY-SIS
A national organisation which provides emotional support and practical advice to parents of babies who cry incessantly and have sleep problems, and of older children with problems such as temper tantrums, clinging and long-term crying. Offers information about possible causes of such behaviour if an SAE is sent when writing.
Call the national helpline and they will put you in touch with a local counsellor.
BM Cry-sis. London, WC1N 3XX
08451 228669 : info@cry-sis.org.uk
Enuresis Resource and Information Centre (Eric)
Provides advice and information to younger children, teenagers, parents and professionals on bed wetting and day-time wetting.
ERIC, 34 Old School House, Britannia Road, Kingswood, Bristol. BS15 2DB
0117 9603060 : info@eric.org.uk
Fathers Direct
The national information centre for fatherhood. Founded in 1999, it aims to promote close and positive relationships between men and their children, in partnership with other family and children's organisations. It aims to challenge barriers to father involvement, provide high quality, accessible information for fathers, support the development of family services accessible to fathers, and highlight good fathering to create a culture supportive of dads raising children. Fathers Direct offers conferences and training and publishes FatherWork magazine, a quarterly providing the latest news, research and discussion in the field. They also run a national network for people who work with fathers. It's free to join the network online or in writing.
Fathers Direct, Herald House, Lambs Passage, Bunhill Row, London. EC1Y 8TQ
0845 6341328 : mail@fathersdirect.com
Family Caring Trust
A national Christian charity that produces various parenting courses and resources.
Family Caring Trust, 8 Ashtree Enterprise Park, Newry, Co.Down. BT34 1BY
028-30264174 : office@familycaring.co.uk
Family Links
Family Links is an Oxford-based charity established to encourage and teach nurturing and relationship skills. It also promotes public awareness of the need for emotional education. Family Links offers both the full Nurturing Programme and training courses to professionals and to families, and it is mainly designed to be delivered in a school context. The Programme is only available through Family Links, or practitioners trained and licensed by Family Links.
Family Links, Peterley House, Peterley Road, Horspath Industrial Estate, Cowley, Oxford OX4 2TZ
01865 401800 : info@familylinks.org.uk
Family Matters Institute
The FMI works alongside church, faith and community leaders to support and strengthen marriage, parenting and all aspects of family life.
The FMI was founded by Dr Clifford Hill in 1998 and initiated through his work with the Lord's and commons Family and Child Protection Group. It is a charity supported by Donations, Affiliation, Trust and Grant-giving agencies that support particular projects. FMI's work is focussed in three main areas: Projects (marriage/relationships, parenting and household finances), Research and Resources. It also provides training for parenting group facilitators.
Family Matters Institute, The Park, Moggerhanger, Bedfordshire. MK44 3RW
01767 641002 : family@familymatters.org.uk
Family Nurturing Network
A Charity founded in 1994 and supported by Oxfordshire County Council. Staff have qualifications in clinical psychology and experience in teaching, counselling, youth work, training and research. Their aim is to improve relationships within the family and to help children succeed at home, with friends and at school. They run parenting programmes and offer training for professionals and FNN volunteers. All their programmes are suitable for families experiencing significant difficulties in parenting their children aged 2-12.
The Family Nurturing Network, 112 Magdalen Road, Oxford OX4 1RQ
01865 791711 : info@fnn.org.uk
Gingerbread
A national charity offering help and support to lone parents through over 100 local groups.
Gingerbread, 16-17 Clerkenwell Close, London, EC2R OAN
020 7336 8183 : office@gingerbread.org.uk
0800018 4318 (Helpline)
Homestart
Homestart is a voluntary organisation offering support, friendship and practical help to families at home with children under 5. The first Home-Start scheme was launched in 1973 and there are now over 200 schemes with more than 5,000 volunteers visiting families throughout the UK. Each local scheme is staffed by at least one paid Organiser (or Co-ordinator) who is responsible for running the scheme and recruiting volunteers. The service is free and confidential.
Home-Start can help any family, with at least one child under five, who is experiencing difficulties. For example Home-Start could help lonely or isolated parents, families with twins, multiple births or several pre-schoolers, lone parents, Mums with postnatal depression, families new to an area, families where there is ill health or special needs.
Home start offers friendly support through difficult times for as long as it is helpful or needed. Help is flexible, confidential and free to be accepted or rejected.
Home-Start Oxford, Blackbird Leys Community Centre, Blackbird Leys Road, Oxford, OX4 6HW
01865 5779991 : info@homestart-oxford.org.uk
Home-Start UK, 2 Salisbury Road, Leicester. LE1 7QR
Tel: 0116 2339955 : info@home-start.org.uk
Mothers Union
The stated purpose of the MU is to be especially concerned with all that strengthens and preserves marriage and Christian family life. The MU has a large international membership.
The MU in the UK and Ireland run marriage preparation courses, parenting courses, training for parenting group facilitators, mother and toddler groups and drop-in centres. The MU works in refuges, contact centres, debt counselling centres and hospitals. Local projects are tailor made to the needs of the community in which they are set. For example, the One to One group in Henley; set up in conjunction with local health visitors to support new mothers with very young babies whose isolation can so easily lead to depression. The diocesan “Away From it all” scheme spends around £5,000 each year providing suitable holidays for adults and children whose families are experiencing difficulties and need a break. The MU is active supporting the families of prisoners in 3 prisons in Oxford diocese – prisoners who have a steady marriage or family life to return to are less likely to re-offfend.
The MU is also frequently asked to submit responses to Government organisations, including the Ministry of Women, and they are represented on ECOSOC – an economic and social group within the United Nations.
The Mother’s Union Office, The Priory Room, Christ Church, Oxford OXI 1DP
01865 726308
The National Childbirth Trust
The National Childbirth Trust (NCT) is a national charity which helps thousands of parents and parents-to-be through a range of antenatal classes, helplines and social and educational events. The trust aims to help all parents enjoy the experiences of pregnancy, birth and parenthood. They aim to offer parents the resources they need to have confidence in being a parent. There are thousands of branches nationally, which can be contacted by first contacting the national NCT.
The National Childbirth Trust, Alexandra House, Oldham Terrace, Acton, London, W3 6NH
0870444 8707 (Enquiries) : enquiries@national-childbirth-trust.co.uk
08709 908040 (Membership)
0870 444 8708 (Breastfeeding Support)
National Council for One-Parent Families
This national charity works to promote the welfare of lone parents and their children. They provide information and a help line.
NCOF, 255 Kentish Town Road, London, NW5 2LX.
020 74285400 : info@oneparentfamilies.org.uk
National Family and Parenting Institute (also Parenting site)
The National Family and Parenting Institute is a new independent charity set up to provide a strong national focus on parenting and families in the 21st Century. They see their work as enhancing the value and quality of family life, and are working to support parents in bringing up their children, to promote the well-being of families and to make society more family friendly. They produce publications, fact sheets, a newsletter called 'Family Focus' (worth subscribing to) and have two web sites.
National Family and Parenting Institute, 430 Highgate Studios, 53-79 Highgate Road, London. NW5 1TL
0207 4243460 : info@nfpi.org
National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)
The NSPCC is the UK’s leading charity specialising in the protection and the prevention of cruelty to children. It has been protecting children from abuse for over 100 years.
The NSPCC exists to: Prevent children suffering significant harm as a result of cruelty, Protect children who are at risk of such harm, help children who have suffered cruelty to overcome it’s effects and to work to protect children from further harm.
There is a free, 24-hour NSPCC Child protection helpline that provides counselling, information and advice to anyone concerned about a child at risk of ill treatment and abuse. The number to ring is 080 8800 5000
If you are worried about a child and don’t know what to do, just telephone the helpline, or for the hard of hearing there is a textphone 0800 056 0566.
The Helpline is staffed by experienced counsellors who will listen and speak to you in confidence. If they need to, they will then contact social services or the police to protect a child at risk. The helpline counsellors can also advise on general child-care and family problems.
NSPCC, Weston House, 42 Curtain Road, London EC2A 3NH
020 78252500
Ormiston Children and Family Trust
Ormiston is a children and families charity based in East Anglia and set up 1996. Its work is to help the families of prisoners, and has various resources for use with prisoners' families.
Ormiston Children and Families Trust, 333 Felixstowe Road, Ipswich, 1P3 9BU
01473 724517 : enquiries@ormiston.org
Oxfordshire Parent-Talk Programme.
This is an oxford-wide organisation that offers courses for parents of teenagers who are presenting more serious behavioural problems. Teenagers may be in trouble with the police or courts, have school attendance problems, have been or are in danger of being excluded from school, or who are causing their parents and/or the community problems in other ways. Parents need to be referred to the Parent-Talk Programme; usually this is by Social Services, the Youth Offending Team, Health Visitors, the Police, schools and others working in education especially with disturbed or truanting young people. Once parents have been referred, they are visited by a member of the Parent-Talk team.
Rosie Hill, Parent Education Development Worker, Oxfordshire Youth Offending Team / Parent Education Development Team, Cricket Road Centre, Oxford OX4 3DW
01865 559386 (tel/fax) : rosie.hill@oxfordshire.gov.uk
Oxfordshire Parenting Forum
OPF is a charity working solely in Oxfordshire, which seeks to bring together people interested in parent education and support, to share information and good practice. It seeks to promote, co-ordinate and develop parent education and to keep a high profile for this important subject. OPF also presses for effective policies at local and national level. OPF provide training for facilitators, conferences, seminars, and have a newsletter for members. Membership is on an individual or group basis with a minimal charge. OPF have produced an excellent manual for parent- educators which can be purchased from them.
Oxfordshire Parenting Forum, c/o PEEP, PO Box 1474, Oxford, OX4 6XW
01865 395145 : oxonparentforum@aol.com (email first if possible)
Parents and Children Together (PACT)
PACT is an agency of the Anglican Church in Oxford Diocese. It offers a practical service to parents, children and families, an adoption and fostering service and a post-adoption counselling service for all parties involved in the adoption process. ‘Drop in’ centres for parents and children have been developed in the areas of greatest need. PACT offers NVQ training opportunities within the centres, PACT education operates a centre for the voluntary sector to deliver NVQ’s. PACT is specialising in working with homeless families in temporary hostel accommodation in Aylesbury, High Wycombe, Reading and Bracknell. PACT Parents House in Bracknell also offers supported accommodation to young vulnerable women and their babies. PACT operates a number of projects across the diocese, and is committed to building and strengthening families.
PACT, 7 Southern Court, South Street, Reading RG1 4QS.
0800 731 1845 : info@pactcharity.org
Parenting UK
A membership organisation for people who work to provide education and support to parents. It exists to support its members. It provides:
- Parenting information library and resource centre with telephone response service.
- Frequent New Bulletins with up to date information about national and local initiatives and funding opportunities
- Practitioner assessments of a range of existing parenting programmes
- Support in developing funding applications
- Visits and consultancy from Regional Development Officers
- Contacts with parenting education colleagues in local areas.
- The chance to make your work known nationally to colleagues in the field
- A range of publications on parenting education and support topic
The Forum is the specialist organisation which exists to promote and support parenting education and support. It has close relationship with other major organisations in the parenting field and is based at the same location as the National Family and Parenting Institute and Parentline Plus.
Bekah Little is a Training Consultant for the Parent Education Support Forum and can be contacted with any enquiries on 0118 9481581 or bekahlittle@onetel.com
PESF, Unit 431 Highgate Studios, 53-79 Highgate Road, London NW5 1TL
0207 2848370 : admin@parentinguk.org
Parentline Plus
Parentline Plus runs a confidential helpline for parents and carers, parenting courses and provides a range of information leaflets. The Organisation was formed by the merger of The National Step Family Association, The Parent Network and Parentline. Parentline Plus aims to provide accessible, responsive and flexible high quality parent to parent services to five million parents by 2010, champion parents to enable them to articulate their ambitions and campaign for and receive the support and services they want and to set the standard for parent to parent services across Europe.
Parentline Plus, 520 Highgate Studios, 53-79 Highgate Road, London. NW15 1TL
0808 800 2222 (Free Helpline)
0207 284 5500 (General Enquiries)
Parent Support Network (Wokingham District)
A local voluntary network of those involved in parent education, working together with Wokingham District Council. Offers support and some training.
Bianca Morrison, Parenting Project Co-ordinator, Wokingham District Council, Lytham Court, Lytham Road, Woodley. RG5 3PQ.
Tel: 0118 9448040
PEEP
An Oxfordshire charity which helps parents and carers with their babies’ and children’s early learning, lends good books and toys, teaches stories, rhymes and songs, suggests things to do at home, and helps children to get ready for school.
The PEEP Centre, Northfield Close, Littlemore, Oxford. OX4 6JZ
01865 395145 : info@peep.ork.uk
Parents In Partnership – Parent Infant Network PIPPIN
PIPPIN is a national charity whose main aim is to maintain and improve the emotional health of families through one of the most critical stages in people’s lives – the period surrounding the birth of a new baby.
PIPPIN trained facilitators offer parenting classes before and after their baby is born, looking at the emotional and psychological needs of the family as a whole, on all the relationships, not just looking after the baby. The full programme consists of a series of weekly group meetings before and after the baby is born, plus home visits. Facilitators are from all areas of health care and care.
PIPPIN, 49 Birch Centre Annex, Highfield Park, Hill End Lane, St Albans, Herts AL4 0RB
01727 899099
Positive Parenting
A national charity with a Christian foundation that works in partnership with secular organisations. It produces parenting courses and publishes other material about parenting and family life. Positive Parenting have a national initiative, working in pre-schools, primary and secondary schools, offering “one-off” workshops which give parents an experience of parenting help and they are encouraged to embark on a parenting course. They also have courses on anger management for parents and children, and some resources for ASD and ADHD.
Bekah Little is a Training Manager for Positive Parenting and can be contacted with any enquiries on 0118 9481581 or bekahlittle@onetel.com
Positive Parenting, 2a South Street, Gosport. PO12 1ES
023 9252 8787 : info@parenting.org.uk
Sure Start
Sure Start is a government programme which aims is to work with parents and children to promote the physical, intellectual and social development of children. Each local sure start programme is different – to meet local needs – but all offer core services. All new parents are visited within two months of birth to introduce them to the Sure Start services that are locally available. Parents are also offered a range of help and advice which can include parenting courses and groups on issues such as healthy eating and training for work.
To find out if there is a Sure Start programme in your area contact Government Office in your area, or the national Sure Start Unit.
Sure Start Unit, level 2, Caxton House, Tothill Street, London SW1H 9NA
020 7273 4880 : surestart@dfes.gov.uk
Thames Valley Partnership
A charity which brings people and organisations together to work for safer communities. It acts as a catalyst to promote and support good practice in community safety, with a particular focus on early intervention and support to families with children. In March 2001 they published 'Never too Early: An Evaluation of Methods of Early Years Intervention', based on work with projects in Oxford and Slough.
Thames Valley Partnership, Townhill Barn, Dorton Road, Chilton, Nr Aylesbury. HP18 9NA
01844 202001 : admin@thamesvalleypartnership.org.uk
Trust for the Study of Adolescence
The TSA is a training and development service which aims to improve skills in work with young people and increase understanding of adolescence through research, practice development projects, conferences, courses and publications. Key topics include promoting mental health and wellbeing and improving adults' communication skills.
Trust for the Study of Adolescence, 23, New Road, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 1WZ
01273 771249 : info@tsa.uk.com
