If you currently run or are thinking of starting a UK based support group for families with disabled children this part of the website is for you. If you are looking for a support group call our helpline.

Contact a Family can help you set up, run and develop a UK based support group for families with disabled children. We are in touch with over 300 national groups dealing with specific conditions as well as over 1,000 local parents groups:

• national condition specific groups provide support for all families in the UK with a child with a specific condition, often a rare disorder.
• local groups provide support for families of children with any condition within a given town, area or attending a particular school etc.

If you are thinking of starting a group, the first thing to check is whether there is already a group in the local area, or for a specific condition. To find out if there is a local group, e-mail our helpline. To find out if there is a national group first look in our Directory of medical conditions.

Contact a Family Group Action Pack

The Contact a Family Group Action Pack consists of a series of guides for parents' groups on topics such as starting new groups, developing existing groups and setting up websites.

The guides can all be downloaded from our Group Action Pack page free of charge. Multiple copies can be purchased via our online shop.

What else do we offer?

Contact a Family also has a group development service for both local and national UK based groups. For more information about what we can offer please see our leaflet. If you would like to speak to someone about setting up or developing your group please phone 020 7608 8700 or e-mail info@cafamily.org.uk. We may be able to help with advice on subjects such as contacting other parents, publicising your group and applying for funding.

Support groups registered with us can be entered on to our database, which means that our helpline and local offices will pass on your details to families who may want to join. You can also request a free subscription to our magazine Connected. If your group would like to register, please e-mail us at info@cafamily.org.uk.

You can also subscribe to a free monthly e-mail newsletter to keep you up to date with what's new for families with disabled children. For national rare disorder support groups there is also a free bi-monthly e-newsletter with information useful to you if you are running the group, and also to your group members.

Getting in touch

We are always pleased to hear from groups. If you have a group running which you would like to tell us about, please e-mail info@cafamily.org.uk.

If your group is registered with us, please do make sure that you let us know about any changes to your group. This would include: who the contact person is, telephone numbers, hours that you are available, as well as any new services that you now offer, such as a newsletter or website.

That way we can make sure that parents are given the correct information about your group when they call us.