Parenting support

Every parent knows that the hardest job anyone can do is to bring up children.

It doesn’t matter whether you are a single parent or a couple, or if you have plenty of family support or none. We all struggle at times to know how best to raise children to be happy, confident and respectful young people.

The Parenting Partnership project offers a range of evidence-based parenting programmes to parents and carers in the borough who have children between the ages of 0 to 18 years old.

We offer courses such as:

• Mellow Parenting
• Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities
• Positive Parenting Programme (also known as Triple P).

Other kinds of support are available in different settings.

 The courses provide you with the chance to:

• build positive relationships with your child 
• make parenting and family life more enjoyable and less stressful
• feel more confident as a parent
• gain a greater understanding of child development
• learn new parenting skill and strategies
• support your child to learn and grow
• reflect on your own experiences of being parented
• find out about other support and services available to you and your family.

These courses are FREE and are being held at a range of venues across the borough.

Find out more about the parenting courses on the UPG website.

Strengthening relationships within families

1 to 1 or group sessions with the aim of supporting parents to understand the impact of conflict, understand better their own feelings and triggers and be able to mentalise with their children’s needs. Find out more about the strengthening relationships within families course.

The Urban Partnership Group and H&F Children’s Services are working together to provide a parenting coordinator service for all parents who are interested in learning about parenting skills training.

Throughout H&F there are trained people who want to support you and we are training more people in all kinds of settings. The parenting coordinator can help you to find the right kind of support and point you in the direction of where to get advice.

For more details, contact the parenting services coordinator on 020 7605 0800 or email parents@upg.org.uk

What we do

We work with services such as education and health to help families in the borough who have children aged between 0 to 19 with challenges they may be experiencing.

These can range from mental health, domestic abuse, poverty, chaotic family life and related issues such as school attendance and behavioural problems. 

Family support is a consent-based service and we will work together to identify the individual need for your family and how best to support you.

We also work with schools in the borough on a number of projects, for further information about these projects please contact us for a discussion.

Making contact 

You may already be in touch with our team – we work with services such as education or health. 

If you feel you need extra support, or are worried about a child or young person’s welfare, please contact the Initial Consultation and Advice Team (ICAT) on 020 8753 6600 for further advice and discussion.

Our trained and professional staff will deal with your enquiries and a member of staff will meet you to discuss your situation and tell you more about how we can help you.

We work in partnership with parents and families and our first priority is always to help families to stay together wherever possible.

Can anyone get help?

We want to help as many people as possible but we have to make sure that our services go to those who need them most. Whether you qualify for a particular service will depend on your level of need.

If you need help, but don’t qualify for one of our services we will try to put you in touch with someone who can help.

If you are worried about a child’s physical or emotional welfare you can contact us. It does not matter whether the child is a relative, neighbour or even a total stranger. We are there to help wherever possible.

How do I find out more?

For more information, to ask for an assessment or to tell us if you are worried about the welfare of a child call our duty service on 020 8753 6600.

familyservices@lbhf.gov.uk 

You can visit the family services front door service at:

145 King Street
Hammersmith
London
W6 9XY

We are open from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).

If you have a concern out of hours, please contact our emergency duty team on 020 8748 8588.

What if I am not happy with the service provided?

We always try to provide a high quality service, but we recognise that there may be times when things go wrong. If you are not satisfied with a service you receive or a decision we have made, you should first speak to a member of our staff.

They will take your problem seriously and will try to put things right. If you are not satisfied with this response, you can make a formal complaint.

If you're having problems in your family life, there are lots of ways we can help you.

You might be a parent worried about your child's behaviour or how a divorce may impact on your family. You might be part of a step-family and need help adjusting, or you may be arguing with parents or siblings and need support communicating with each other.

Visit the Relate website.

Family Action transforms lives by providing practical, emotional and financial support to those who are experiencing poverty, disadvantage and social isolation across the country.

We have been building stronger families since 1869, and today work with over 45,000 families through over 140 community-based services. Thousands more are supported with financial assistance through education and welfare grants programmes.

Our innovative services reach out to those in need, we strengthen families and communities, build skills and resilience and improve the life chances of children and adults.

Family Lives is a charity with over 30 years of experience helping parents to deal with the changes that are a constant part of family life.

We know that many people play active roles in raising children from:

• dads and mums
• grandparents
• stepparents
• non-resident parents.

Our role is to support all of you to achieve the best relationship possible with the children that you care about, as well as supporting parenting professionals.

We believe that happy children come from happy families and currently support families to improve the outcomes for over 1 million children each year.

The NSPCC has lots of useful guidance and tips to help you keep your child safe.

This includes advice on:

• children’s mental health
• staying safe online
• support for parents
• what to do if you’re worried about a child.

Visit the keeping children safe section on the NSPCC website.

Am I pregnant? What should I be eating? Is it normal to be this tired? How can I help my partner during labour?

Whatever you want to know about getting pregnant, being pregnant or caring for your new baby, the NHS pregnancy guide can help.

You'll find week-by-week guides, videos, health advice and information about your pregnancy journey.

Visit the NHS pregnancy guide.