Where to find parenting advice

Whatever age your children, we could always do with a little support and advice. Here we've looked at some general parenting organisations that have some useful resources available.

• Family Links is a national charity dedicated to empowering children, parents, families and schools to be emotionally healthy - they have some great downloadable resources for parents. 
• Contact a Family provides help and advice to families caring for a disabled child or a child with specific health conditions.
• Disabled Parents Network is a membership organisation of and for disabled parents which operates a peer support/contact register that is open to all disabled parents.
• The Fatherhood Institute is a national support organisation for all dads. Some of its projects focus on helping fathers to support their children's learning.
• Family Lives (formerly Parentline Plus) is a national charity offering help and information for parents, carers and families via a range of services including a free 24-hour confidential helpline, workshops, courses, information leaflets, email and website.
• Working Families is a national charity offering a helpline and website advice for parents on carers on all their rights at work including maternity and paternity leave, flexible working, parental leave and in-work benefits.
• Gingerbread is a charity working with and on behalf of single parent families. They offer all kinds of support and advice from break-ups and grieving to returning to work. You'll find a wealth of material and fact sheets on their website as well as a dedicated freephone helpline.
• Chatterbooks Reading Clubs - launched by The Reading Agency to encourage literacy in young people. 

Wales 

• SNAP Cymru is a National Charity, unique to Wales, offering free and independent information, advice and support to help get the right education for children and young people with all kinds of special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities. 
• Governors Wales is the voice of governors of schools in Wales. It shares with parents, teachers, young people and the local community the passion to support schools to provide the best possible learning experience for all. It offers the following services to assist governors: Helpline, Published Guidance, Development Officers & Help for Local Associations. Kirsty Williams, AM, Cabinet Secretary for Education, has prepared a Written Statement entitled 'Changes to the school governance legislative framework'. We will keep you updated about the 12-week consultation that begins shortly.
• Familypoint Cymru connects parents and anyone responsible for a child or young person to key services in Wales via a website and helpline. You can find local and national support and information and up-to-date news for your family.
• NAHT Cymru is the National Association of Head Teachers, which provides information, advice and guidance for leaders and learners in Wales.
• Estyn inspects quality and standards of education in Wales. They give advice and guidance to the Welsh Government on quality and standards in education and training in Wales. They also build capacity in the delivery of education and training in Wales based on inspection evidence, including promoting the spread of best practice through their case studies.

Northern Ireland

• Parentline NI offers a range of support for parents and carers including face to face support, webchat and/or telephone support. For more information call 0808 8020 400 or visit their website.
• Family Support NI  provides details of a wide range of services provided by statutory, voluntary and community organisations to support families. This information will help Families, Young People, Children and Practitioners in Northern Ireland to find local services to meet their needs such as details of all registered childcare providers in Northern Ireland.  
• Action for Children are a UK charity that support parents and parents-to-be, babies and pre-school children. They help young carers, disabled children and their families, as well as providing support to young people through the most difficult times – in their families, in care and as they become independent adults.  Action for Children have been working in Northern Ireland for fifteen years, providing support and services, often working with other agencies to ensure they provide the optimum aid to young people and families when they need it most.
• SENAC (Special Educational Needs Advice Centre, Northern Ireland) offer an independent and confidential telephone Advice Line service, providing advice and information to parents, carers and professionals on getting the right support in school for children with learning difficulties and special educational needs. They also have a children’s advocacy service providing educational advocacy for individual children and young people. SENAC can offer assistance in completing Parental Advice forms, understanding the Assessment and Statementing process, advise on the content of Individual Education Plans and Statements and accompany parents to meetings.
• Autism NI is a parent-led partnership organisation having been formed to promote positive collaboration between parents, professionals and individuals with autism to address the need for appropriate services.  This partnership ethos extends to the charities promotion of a multi-disciplinary, cross-agency response to issues such as assessment, diagnosis and early intervention. The charity's mission to support parents and individuals with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder is core to its work and is based on individual assessed need.  The charity is committed to promoting best practice, accessible to all irrespective of family circumstances.
• ADD-NI was originally established in 1997 as a support network for children, young people and families of those affected by ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). ADD-NI have offices in Belfast and Dungannon, but also run information sessions for families all over the province.
• ADHD NI was set up to support adults in Northern Ireland with ADHD.  The support service is also open to parents of children with ADHD with one-to-one sessions available or over the telephone guidance.
• Parenting NI established in 1979 as the Parents Advice Centre provides free support for parents across Northern Ireland.