About Family Action

Family Action has been a leading provider of services to disadvantaged and socially isolated families since its foundation in 1869. We work with over 45,000 families a year by providing practical, emotional and financial support through over 100 services based in communities across England. A further 150,000 people benefit from our educational grants and information service. We tackle some of the most complex and difficult issues facing families today – including domestic abuse, mental health problems, learning disabilities and severe financial hardship.

These issues have a huge impact on the wellbeing and development of children; and on the ability of parents and carers to make a positive contribution to their community.

We work with whole families to help them find solutions to problems, no matter how difficult, so that they become safer, stronger and more optimistic about their future.

Why Families Matter

At Family Action we know that families come in all shapes and sizes. When we talk about families we don’t only mean people related by blood or marriage; we believe that families have a right to define themselves. No matter how they are constructed, Family Action is committed to supporting families to realise their potential

Family Support Services

Family Action believes that wherever possible children should be supported to achieve their potential within their own family. This cannot be achieved if a child is not seen in the context of the whole family. The needs of parents, as well as their children, must be considered. Improving the quality of relationships between parents and children and their wider kinship and social networks is integral to all of our work. Download a leaflet on our Family Support Services.

Family Action provides family support services to Children’s Centres in fifteen Local Authorities, in Nottinghamshire Family Action manages Pleasley Hill Children's Centre and Ladybrook Children's Centre in Mansfield on behalf of the County Council.  Assertive Outreach services, designed to enable the most hard to reach families to access mainstream services, are at the core of what we provide. Download a leaflet on our Children's Centre Services.

Family Action also provides a wide range of services to over 130 schools across England. We provide parenting programmes based on a number of accredited models, one to one support for students (including mentoring services) and family support services. Download a leaflet on our School-based Services.

All of our services provide a wide range of support from the very practical to the therapeutic.

Services for Children

In addition to supporting children within their families, Family Action provides a range of services specifically for children and young people themselves. These include services to young carers, either through our specialist young carer provision, for example the Nottinghamshire Young Carers Service or by working with children whose parents have enduring mental health problems as part of our Building Bridges and Newpin services.  We also provide mentoring and counselling services in partnership with schools, purposeful holiday activity programmes, after school clubs and healthy eating projects.

Services for Vulnerable Adults

Approximately 15% of Family Action’s income supports our work with adults with enduring mental health problems and/or learning difficulties. Our well established day services in Ipswich, Harrow and Wandsworth are responding positively to the need to provide more community and/or home based services, which are more accessible to a diverse range of service users. Download a leaflet on the services we offer for adults living with mental health problems and parents with learning disabilities.

For more information on Family Action and the services we deliver please go to our website
www.family-action.org.uk