Parent carer participation

Parent carers can often pinpoint problems frequently experienced by families with disabled children. This knowledge is useful to professionals as they plan services to meet disabled children’s needs. 

Parent carer participation is when parents and professionals work together, recognising each other’s expert knowledge, to design, develop and improve services for disabled children in the local area. The way parent carers work with professionals is by forming groups called parent carer forums. 

We are the delivery partner of the Department for Education and the National Network of Parent Carer Forums in supporting parent carer participation in England. We provide forums with adviser support, webinars and training resources, and support around national grants for forums. 

Visit our parent carer participation pages to find out more, or read our latest annual report (2019-20) to find out how Contact have supported parent carer forums this year, and about the impact forums make to local services