Organisations

Caudwell Children transforms the lives of disabled children across the UK. We act as a safety net for families who are unable to gain the help they need. Providing practical and emotional support to disabled children and their families.

Cerebra is a charity supporting families with children 16 and under with brain conditions. We currently fund research throughout the country into various aspects such as behaviour, sleep, premature births and legal issues. We have a sleep service where our sleep practitioner can provide sleep workshops and presentations and also do 1:1 work with families and create a personalised sleep plan. Our regional officers are able to provide information and advice on all sorts of different things, such as looking for specialist equipment (e.g. trikes/car seats) to where to look for funding  to help pay for these. I also signpost a lot to relevant organisations/charities and can help with form filling (grants/DLA). We have a lending library where we loan out books for families (for free) these include books on conditions, sleep, sensory, mindfulness, diet, health and wellbeing etc. We also loan out sensory toys, including a couple of weighted blankets. We have a holiday home families can stay in, and have a grants/wills and trusts voucher scheme (however both of these are full/closed at the minute!) We have a free stress helpline families can call, and we publish various parent guides (including DLA guide, anxiety guide, challenging behaviour factsheet, […]

Children North East (CNE) is a large North East regional children’s charity, with some of our work extending across England, Wales and Scotland. CNE exists because growing up can be hard. We want all babies, children and young people to be happy and healthy and to grow up feeling: Safe and loved Resilient to the challenges they may face Valued and confident We have a strong children’s rights ethos and believe that real social change is achieved when those who are, or have, experienced issues lead the change. CNE deliver services, support and initiatives that provide a platform for children, young people and families to work through issues, take action and provide them with the tools to reach their full potential. This includes; therapeutic services, mental health support, youth work, domestic abuse support, family support, community-based initiatives, participation and consultation activities and our UK wide Poverty Proofing© initiative. We campaign on issues affecting babies, children and young people, we challenge those in positions of influence at all levels who make decisions affecting the lives of babies, children and young people and we influence social policy and system change to address obstacles preventing babies, children and young people growing up happy […]

The Children’s Air Ambulance is an inter-hospital transfer service flying babies and children from one hospital to another for specialist care.

Define Fine has been created by a small, committed team of parents and professionals who have lived experience of school attendance difficulties. We are a parent/carer-led organisation set up in response to the growing number of children and young people who experience school attendance difficulties. This is sometimes referred to as ‘school refusal’, or emotionally based school avoidance and may be due to unmet Special Educational Needs & Disabilities including physical or mental illness, either suspected or diagnosed, bullying or issues relating to academic pressure, or even the school environment. We provide peer support, using our tried and tested resources and to help parents advocate for the support their children and young people need to be able to learn and achieve. We hope to build up our growing network of peer supporters, who we can train to use our guides for their own family and ultimately to then help other families experiencing attendance difficulties. Empowering parents to be able to effectively work with professionals, should encourage not only earlier intervention, with much better outcomes, but also reduce the risk and impact of unhelpful, and unnecessary attendance prosecutions and social services  safeguarding interventions. It is vital that children, young people and […]

Family Fund provides grants to families raising disabled and seriously ill children aged 17 and under. Our grants support a family, improve their well-being, increase quality of life and ease many of the pressures they often face. We are a registered charity and the UK’s largest provider of grants to families living on low incomes who are raising disabled or seriously ill children. Our grants bring practical and essential help that is often a lifeline to a family such as washing machines, fridges, bedding, specialist toys and much-need family breaks. With limited funding we try to help as many families as we can. We use our own eligibility criteria to ensure that we only help families in the most need.  We will consider helping a family once every 12 months and will usually look at a grant application 12 months from the date of the last grant. Depending on what a family have asked for, we will award a grant in a number of different ways. We work in partnership with a range of providers who help us to make our funding go further and help us to evidence that the grant awarded is used for the purpose it is […]

Founded in 1980 by a group of parents who came together to establish Thornhill Park School in Sunderland, the North East Autism Society grew out of a desire to provide a better standard of education for autistic children. Having remortgaged their homes to purchase the building, our founders were dedicated to helping autistic young people fulfil their potential – and that commitment remains at the heart of everything we do. Our services include education for children aged 3-19, post-16 education and social/vocational training along with supported and open employment opportunities for adults. Within our care services, we provide year-round residential placements and supported living services. We also work directly with parents and carers, offering family support which includes short breaks, support in the home, evening and weekend activities.

RSBC are here to support you and your family if you have a blind or partially sighted child aged 0-25. We offer a range of services including emotional support and practical advice for families, opportunities for children and young people to build confidence and skills through activities, and a specialist further education college – Dorton College. Our Families First service has Family Practitioners based regionally across England and Wales and our Support Advisor is available by phone or email. Activities are held both in London and online. We also work with local partners to offer activities across England and Wales. Our Connecting Families Facebook group is available to join here where you can chat in a safe space with other parents and carers. We have a Family Practitioner dedicated to the North East region who can support the whole family through our Families First service. This support can be provided in-person or remotely.  From the moment you receive a diagnosis that your child has sight loss, if there is a change in vision, if your child or family are going through some changes that are difficult to manage or any other time when life just seems a bit tough, get in touch […]

A disability sport and physical activity charity covering the North East. Providing events, sessions and training to individuals and organisations.

The Children and Young Adult service at St Oswald’s is a 6/7 bedded unit currently offering short breaks to 61 children and young adults, aged 0 to 25 years from across the North East.The children and young adults accessing the service have life limiting/threatening conditions and complex health and social care needs. We also provide end of life care to children and young adults using our service and to other children/young adults when death is expected and imminent. These children maybe in-patients at the Great North Children’s Hospital or the Freeman Hospital. We offer an additional choice for a place to die which professionals can offer when planning end of life care. Occasionally we are requested to provide care to a child who has already died to support their family at this difficult time. The service tries to be as flexible as possible to meet the needs of the child or young adult and can respond imaginatively in response to, for example, a family crisis. A specialised team is required to deliver our service; The Children and Young Adult Service at St Oswald’s is nurse led. The Care Team is predominantly registered children’s nurses with a couple of adult registered […]

The Children’s Sleep Charity are a national, award-winning charity supporting children with sleep issues. We provide support for families and accredited training for professionals and commercial organisations. Sleep deprivation can have a serious impacton emotional, physical and mental health, many families seeking our support are approaching crisis point. We offer a range of services from working directly with parents to training professionals in the NHS. Our work is based on the latest research and we have a team of experts who input into our training materials and courses. We believe in working in partnership with families and offer a gentle approach to making lasting changes to your child’s sleep patterns.