As well as supporting families, we work with professionals who work with children and families. If you are a professional working with a family with a disabled child there are a number of ways we might be able to help the family you are working with, or to support you in your work with them.
If families approach you with a problem that is outside your own area of expertise, then remember Contact a Family runs a freephone helpline which acts as a one stop shop for families caring for a disabled child. It is staffed by experienced advisers and professional workers can also contact our helpline.
We produce a wide range of publications to help families deal with problems they might approach you about. Our free parent guides cover issues including sleep, behaviour, rights and entitlements, aids and equipment, adolescence and transition to adult services.
Research tells us that the opportunity for parents to talk to families who have had similar experiences is beneficial to them. Contact a Family helps facilitate family linking in a number of ways.
Contact a Family has a team of family workers covering some parts of the UK. Our family support workers can help families with any of the wide range of issues that families can face when caring for a disabled child.
Contact a Family produces 'The Contact a Family Directory – the essential guide to medical conditions, disabilities and support'. It contains entries on over 1000 long term condition, each written or endorsed by a leading UK expert. Each entry provides an overview of the condition with details of UK support groups where available.
If you cannot find a specific condition in our directory, we do have information on more conditions in our database.
The Directory is available to buy as a book or to subscribe to online via our website. Parents can access information on up to five different conditions for free or you can phone the helpline for a print-out.
For more information about our work and how we can help you to support families you are working with, Tel: 020 7608 8700 or e-mail: info@cafamily.org.uk