Help & advice for parents
These pages will be expanding shortly to provide further help and advice for parents, but in the meantime, please see below for some useful contact information.
Useful contacts
Services available in Devon
- Mood Disorders Centre - useful links for parents with low mood.
- Devon's family information service (DISC) - holds a wide range of information about Children's Services and Registered Childcare.
- Find your local children’s centre here - Children’s Centres offer local support and advice for parents of children under 5.
- Devon Information Advice and Support (DiAS) - for parents and carers of children with additional educational needs.
- Torbay Family Information Service - Information for families in Torbay
- Exeter Community Initiative Family Resources - Provides a range of services to meet the needs of children and families including Parenting Courses, Family Support, Counselling and Play Therapy.
- Meet a mum - A message board run by netmums so that you can meet other mums in your local area.
Services available Nationally
- Family Lives is a national charity providing help and support in all aspects of family life. They have a free Parentline. Call 0808 800 2222.
Services for dads
- Dad Talk - chat online to other dads online and get advice and support
- Dad.info - online information for dads
Services for mums
- Netmums is a family of local sites that cover the UK, each site offering information to mothers on everything from where to find playgroups and how to eat healthily to where to meet other mothers.
- Mummy Social - highly active and very friendly free social media site to find mummy friends locally to chat with and get out of the house with for a coffee, walk, softplay etc. Now with 43,000 members across the UK, set up by a young mum who experienced isolation herself.
Services for single parents
- Gingerbread - provides expert advice, practical support and campaigns for single parents.
- Only dads - for single dads
- Only mums - for single mums
Services for families facing difficulties
- Family rights group advises families whose children are involved with or need children’s services because of welfare needs or concerns.
- Home-Start provides informal, friendly and confidential support to families with at least one child under five years who are facing challenging times
- Relate is a national federated charity with over 70 years experience of supporting the nation’s relationships