Raising a child isn’t easy. That’s why all parents should have access to family and early years support.
Why some families need extra support
In the UK, every family receives early years support from pregnancy until their child is five years old. Section 2 of the Childcare Act 2006 refers to early years support as “early childhood services”, and defines it as a combination of:
- Early years provision (childcare and early learning).
- Social services (family support and social care).
- Health services (midwives and health visitors).
- Employment support for parents and prospective parents.
- Information for parents.
Other early years support includes free childcare and play sessions, specialist speech and language therapy, and SEND support.
In July 2025, the government introduced Best Start in Life. This is an online hub alongside physical Family Hubs in England offering healthcare, childcare and parenting support. It builds on early years support by providing these services for children and young people up to 19 years old, or 25 for those with SEND.
We run family groups all over the UK, offering parents support from pregnancy to early years and beyond.
Parents can benefit from support groups or counselling to protect their own wellbeing. Short breaks can also help, as they give the children a chance to enjoy a fun time away with specialist care, while giving the family some breathing space.
Parenting classes are available too, which can help parents understand their child’s needs and learn practical tips on how to manage at home.
Our Parent Talk service offers both support for parents for a wide range of issues, as well as a wide range of parenting courses. Parent Talk contributed to helping a total of 544,297 children, young people and families in 2025/26.
We believe it takes a village to raise a child.
Our Building Babies Brains progamme is a community-based initiative that empowers people to share important information about early brain development.
We do this by bringing together local people - known as our Community Champions - who work with parents and infants. Together, they share knowledge on how a baby's brain develops in the first 1,001 days of their life.
Through collaboration and relationship-building, our Community Champions will then share their learnings with parents and carers in their community.
Our Building Babies Brains programme has been running for seven years, with over 400 champions trained. It is based on the Diffusions of Innovation theory, which looks at how information is shared. This helps us to ensure that key information is passed on to large numbers of people, including parents and carers.
Our champions include:
- breast feeding peer supporters.
- baby and toddler group leaders.
- children's librarians.
- baby massage facilitators.
- baby room leads in nurseries.
- baby health staff.
Our family hubs play an essential role in giving children and families the support they need. Family hubs cater to families of all kinds.
You can get support from a Family Hub if you are:
- a parent or carer of a child aged 0 to 19, or 25 with special educational needs or a disability
- pregnant
- a young person up to the age of 19, or up to 25 for a young person with special educational needs or a disability
The support made me feel more confident with living alone. Without the help of Action for Children, I wouldn’t have had a clue what I was doing.
Katryn, a parent supported by Action for Children's Family Hubs
Our nurseries and out of school clubs offer extended care from birth to 14 years. They operate across England and Scotland, and feature positive learning led by the needs of the children. Care focuses on nutrition, outdoor play, and mental health.
Children are vulnerable and can’t look after themselves. They rely on adults for essential care and support.
From the time a baby is born, they’re surrounded by people whose job it is to do just this. These include parents, teachers, support workers and more. Whoever these people are, they must follow strict laws to make sure they’re keeping children as safe as possible.
Signs of abuse or neglect can be hard to spot. Things to look out for include:
- Changes in behaviour, for example from friendly to withdrawn.
- Poor hygiene and dirty, ill-fitting or damaged clothes.
- Bruises in unusual places, burns or marks such as welts.
- Not gaining weight at the expected rate.
- Not reacting, being passive and quiet, and not making eye contact (in babies).
The wrap-around care that all parents and children get from pregnancy until five years old makes sure that families receive regular support. This means that any signs of neglect or abuse should be caught early.
It’s important to remember that not all neglect is intentional. Sometimes it’s a result of the parent experiencing poverty or having emotional wellbeing issues.
It’s in these situations that Early Help is usually triggered, which is the final step before children’s social services is called in. This is where the family can access extra help from health professionals, schools, charities and more to help stop their problems reaching crisis point.
Bonding is the close emotional attachment that develops between a child or young person and their parent or caregiver. It makes them feel secure and loved, to develop and thrive in later life.
Family support can help in many ways. Support workers can show parents how to engage with their children and young people. Free childcare gives families essential breathing space, and they can meet other parents and access advice at Family Hubs. Practical help is also available, such as housing or financial support, which can reduce the pressure on them and help them feel more confident as parents.
