Rising parental burnout reveals support gap for families with adolescents
As families settle into the new school year, the children’s charity Action for Children is warning adolescence is increasingly becoming a major pressure point for families as vital support often ends once children reach their teenage years.
It comes as the charity’s Parent Talk service marks five years of operation, with its latest report showing that 40% (651 cases) of parents of 10–15-year-olds accessing one-to-one support in 2025/26 raised concerns about their own wellbeing, compared with 28% (351 cases) in 2022/23. Among those parents, more than eight in 10 (82%) also raised concerns about their child's wellbeing.
As a family, we were struggling and I felt like I was carrying the weight of it all on my shoulders.
A parent supported by Action for Children
Children aged 10-15 years old today were in primary school during the pandemic. They now face navigating adolescence amid continuing pressures around school attendance, SEND provision and mental health support. Frontline staff also say the rise in parental burnout is linked to a growing support gap for parents of older children and teenagers.
The report identifies secondary school transition as a particular pressure point, with many families losing established support networks just as children's needs become more complex.
Among parents of 10 to 15-year-olds who discussed their own wellbeing, eight in 10 (82%) were also raising concerns about their child's wellbeing.
Parents of older children were more likely to seek help with children’s wellbeing, which featured in 41% of one-to-one support cases compared with 30% of parents of five to 10-year-olds.
Many parents initially contacted the service for help with a specific issue such as school avoidance, ADHD, contact arrangements, mental health or debt, but often went on to describe their own anxiety, exhaustion, family conflict, financial strain, worries about safety, and the question of how to parent with empathy and patience when on the edge of burnout.
The findings come from Parent Talk, Action for Children's free online parenting service, which supported 337,022 parents and carers through online advice webpages in 2025/26 and offered one-to-one support to 3,984 parents and carers.
Since launching in 2020, the service has also supported more than 40,000 parents and carers across the UK through one-to-one conversations.
Action for Children is urging ministers to make early adolescence the next frontier of the government's prevention agenda, warning that families often lose access to support just as children's needs become more complex.
The charity argues that, while welcome progress has been made in the early years, children aged 10 to 15 remain an overlooked group despite adolescence being a crucial window for prevention and early intervention.
It is calling for a national ambition for adolescence, centred on secondary school readiness and better access to support for parents before challenges escalate into crisis.
Martha Hampson, Policy and Research Manager at Action for Children, said: "The early years rightly receive significant attention. Parents do not stop needing support when their children become teenagers – but the support available to them often does stop.
"We're calling on ministers to make adolescence the next priority for their prevention and opportunity agenda. The government has rightly prioritised early years support but has yet to address adolescent years. We need to establish a national ambition for adolescence, including a focus on secondary school readiness, and to improve support for parents before problems escalate into crisis.
"Parents should also not be left struggling while their children wait for SEND, mental health or other support. Practical and emotional help is vital during that time, and digital parenting support should be recognised as an essential part of early help, working alongside local face-to-face services helping parents access trusted support quickly when they need it most."
Action for Children is urging the public to join its movement calling for more support for parents of adolescents.
Jo Thurston, a Digital Family Support Content Advisor at Parent Talk has been with the service since 2020, said: "I have been with Parent Talk since the service launched five years ago, and each year we have increasingly become a crisis service for parents.
“Parents are being told they need to do more for their children, yet they often find little support available to them. They are desperate to get things right but tell us they feel unseen, unheard and left to cope alone. They're consistently under pressure and many are struggling under the immense weight they're carrying - with many feeling they have no safety net to catch them.
"They are supporting children through adolescence, advocating with services, dealing with long waits for support and trying to keep family life going. "The reality is that supporting adolescents means supporting the adults around them. Parents remain the most important source of stability, safety and support in a child's life, but they cannot do it alone."
Ellen*, a mother with anxiety and depression, sought support from Parent Talk, while struggling with the impact of school attendance issues affecting two of her sons.
Her 13-year-old had become increasingly anxious and was refusing to attend school, while her 10-year-old was undergoing medical investigations for ongoing health problems. Feeling overwhelmed by a lack of support and concerns about potential attendance fines, she turned to the service for advice, reassurance and emotional support.
"We really were at a loss. My son had become so unhappy and withdrawn, and despite repeatedly asking for help, it felt like nobody was listening. The pressure from school and the constant worry about attendance and fines was overwhelming, especially while trying to support another child with ongoing health problems. As a family, we were struggling and I felt like I was carrying the weight of it all on my shoulders.
“Speaking to a Parent Talk coach was the first time in a long time that I felt listened to and understood. They answered my questions, gave me support when I needed it most and shared resources that will really help my son. The reassurance and advice they provided made me feel less alone and gave me hope at a time when we desperately needed it. Our lives have changed for better since speaking with Parent Talk and I’m so pleased we had them to turn to.”
*Names have been changed for anonymity
