You are currently in the following section: Charities & not for profit organisations > Contact a Family

Contact a Family

Contact a Family is delighted to have been chosen as Enable’s Charity of the Year.

Here, Francine Bates, Chief Executive of Contact a Family, tells Enable Together a little more about their work.

Photo of Francine Bares, CEO

Picture Above: Francine Bates (Chief Executive of Contact a Family)

Contact a Family is a UK wide charity providing support, advice and information to any family with a disabled child. There are over 700,000 disabled children and young people in the UK. Discovering that your child has a disability, health condition or special educational needs is always very difficult and families often feel isolated.

Families tell us that their greatest need is for information. This includes information about entitlements to support and provision for special educational needs for example. And, perhaps more importantly for those with a child only recently diagnosed with a rare condition, families are often desperate for medical information that they can understand and some contact with other families. Other families in a similar situation can share experiences and both benefit from mutual support.

Contact a Family image of children sitting holding artwork

Contact a Family can:-

put families in touch with support groups or, where there isn’t a group, as is the case with some very rare disorders, link families directly on a one-to-one basis
put families in touch with any other specialist national or local organisations which may be able to help
give medical information on all conditions affecting children and young people
advise on services like getting a short break and families’ rights to benefits and tax credits and other help which may be available
send any one of our range of factsheets on subjects such as living without a diagnosis; a genetic condition in the family; booklets for grandparents, fathers and siblings as well as practical information about education rights, community care and claiming benefits
talk to families via an interpreter in over 100 languages if a language other than English is preferred

How to get in touch with Contact a Family

If families need information, they are welcome to phone our National Freephone Helpline, Tel: 0808 808 3555 (10am-4pm, Monday to Friday and 5.30-7.30pm on Mondays). The service is free and confidential.

Textphone users can contact us on 0808 808 3556.

Or we take enquiries via e-mail – helpline@cafamily.org.uk.

Or write to us at 209-211 City Road, London, EC1V 1JN

Our website www.cafamily.org.uk also has lots of useful information.

The site contains all our factsheets, copies of our journal `Share an Idea’ and our directory of rare conditions and syndromes.

This year Contact a Family has a full range of events to suit everyone. Choose from The Edinburgh Marathon to chasing rapids with White Water Rafting.

Please click on the link below to see the full range of events on offer.

> Contact a Family Events

return to top