Contact a Family has Volunteer Parent Representatives across the UK whose role is to offer support and information to families of disabled children. They are all parents of disabled children, some with quite complex and rare conditions, with a great knowledge of the day-to-day issues confronting parents and access to a wide range of information on local services, voluntary organisations and useful sources of help. They volunteer their time and energies to help other parents.

The Volunteer Parent Representatives role is to:

• support parents and answer telephone enquiries for local information;
• signpost parents and professionals to local groups and organisations;
• let parents and professionals know about the services that Contact a Family can offer;
• provide reliable information on local resources and services for disabled children;
• represent Contact a Family at local events and have our written information/publications available;
• pick up local issues and represent parent concerns, for instance in planning groups.

The Volunteer Parent Representatives deal with enquiries by telephone or email, in most cases. They are all volunteers and parents themselves and have busy family lives, so may not always answer your call at the time but will always ring you back.

As well as supporting and helping families, Reps will be pleased to consider joining local committees and forums, representing or presenting the wider parental view for their area. They will also talk to local support groups or voluntary organisations about their role and the services offered by Contact a Family.

The work of the team is currently supported by a number of funders, including The Big Lottery, Four Acre Trust, Surrey County Council, Northamptonshire County Council and periodically a number of other charitable trusts.

Download our leaflet about the Volunteer Parent Representatives.

In some parts of the UK, there is a Family Worker and a Rep in the same area and they will liaise to offer the service and information required. Either one can be contacted as they will refer on to each other.