There are some 620,000 parents in the UK caring for a disabled child.Contact is a charity founded in the 1970’s by families of disabled children. These families shared a common experience and recognised how important it was to support each other and so that charity was formed.Whilst a lot has changed in the past 50 years, families who have a child with a disability in 2021 do still face challenges and with so much to think about it can easily become overwhelming.If you want to know what benefits you might be entitled to, what extra help with educational needs might be available or preparing for the transition to adulthood then Contact can help.At The Professional Deputies Forum annual conference in September 2021 Gail Bedding (Business Development and Early Years Manager at Contact) spoke about using her own experience of having a child with a disability to make a difference to other families embarking on the same journey. This is something Gail is clearly passionate about.Contact supports families across the UK with a disabled child aged from birth to 25. Some of the things Contact do include:Supporting families:Not only does their website provide advice and information about having a child with additional needs but they also run a telephone helpline and live chat. Contact also produces newsletters and printed parent guides.They have regional teams who organise coffee mornings and family fun days.They run a range of workshops and information sessions – online and face to face.Campaigns and research:Contact works to tackle the inequalities faced by families with disabled children. Some of their latest campaigns include a decent home for every disabled child and increase to Carer’s Allowance.Parent carer participation:Contact is the national delivery partner supporting parent carer forums in England.Fledglings shop:Contact runs a not for profit shop supplying items for disabled children.Programmes:Contact runs special programme and projects across the UK. These include wellbeing and finances.Training consultancy:Contact offers a range of training programmes as well as bespoke training. At Boyes Turner we are often inspired by my clients and their families and it is a real privilege to be able to support them. However, not everyone will have a solicitor as part of their team so we recognise how important it is to be able to signpost families in the direction of others who can help to ensure everyone has access to much needed information, support and advice.In 2020/2021, Contact helped 196,000 families with disabled children. The help they give to all families with disabled children is impressive and is a vital information source to many families.If you would like to learn more about Contact’s work or to find out how you can support them, please do visit their website www.contact.org.uk. You can also call Contact’s free helpline on 0808 808 3555, Monday to Friday 9:30am-5pm or contact them by email at info@contact.org.uk.If you have any queries or questions about how to support someone to make their own decisions then please contact our Court of Protection team by email at cop@boyesturner.com.
