Useful Links

Children's Hearings Scotland (CHS) is a public body. We were established in July 2011 by the Children's Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 and became fully operational on 24 June 2013. The Children's Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 aims to improve the lives, outcomes and opportunities of Scotland's most vulnerable children and young people.

Using evaluation, research and evidence to protect children and prevent abuse.

The primary aim of NAIRO is to improve outcomes for looked after children in England, by maximising the positive impact of the reviewing process. The ways that this purpose will be achieved may include: • Strengthening the understanding and recognition of the role of the IRO; • Influencing the legal and policy framework for looked after children and the reviewing process at national and local level; • The development of a code of practice for IROs; • The development/commissioning/provision of high quality training for IROs.

Even in challenging economic times the care sector continues to expand. Adult social care currently employs 1.63 million people. Driven by significant demographic changes and changes in the way services are being delivered in every community across England, that figure will rise by a least half a million by 2025 according to Skills for Care's National Minimum Data Set. Finding, retaining and developing enough workers to meet the current and future demand for greater choice control in service delivery continues to be a massive challenge for the whole sector.

We are the only organisation in this country focusing solely on all aspects of living successfully with Down's syndrome. Since 1970, we have grown from being a local parent support group into a national charity with over 20,000 members, a national office in Teddington, Middlesex and an office in Northern Ireland. Despite this, the organisation is run by a total staff of 36 (many of them part time). We also work closely with over 130 local support groups throughout the UK.

The Childhood Bereavement Network (CBN) is the hub for those working with bereaved children, young people and their families across the UK. We underpin our members' work with essential support and representation: bringing them together across localities, disciplines and sectors to improve bereavement care for children. Collectively, we share a vision that all children and young people in the UK, together with their caregivers, can easily access a choice of high quality local and national information, guidance and support to enable them to manage the impact of death on their lives.

The Challenging Behaviour Foundation (CBF) is a charity specialising in severe learning disabilities and behaviour described as challenging. Established by a family carer, we work with families and professionals supporting children and adults across the UK.

The European Platform for Investing in Children (EPIC) wants to provide information about all policies that can help strengthen the capacities of children and their families to face the unprecedented challenges that exist in the current economic climate in Europe.

Modern Fatherhood is a place to examine the role of 21st century fathers at home and in the world of work. It's the result of research collaboration between NatCen Social Research, the University of East Anglia and the Thomas Coram Research Unit funded by the ESRC. Although principally focused on fathers in the UK, also examines how the realities of fatherhood vary across Europe. With the Government concerned about troubled families and the role of parents rarely out of the press, there's never been a greater need for strong evidence about fathers.

The International Centre is committed to increasing understanding of, and improving responses to, child sexual exploitation, violence and trafficking in local, national and international contexts. Achieved through: academic rigour and research excellence collaborative and partnership based approaches to applied social research meaningful and ethical engagement of children and young people active dissemination and evidence-based engagement in theory, policy and practice

The Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse (CSA) has been established to help bring about significant and system-wide change in how child sexual abuse is responded to locally and nationally. We will do this by identifying, generating and sharing high quality evidence of what works to prevent and tackle Child Sexual Abuse (including Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)), to inform both policy and practice.

UK Government website covering information you should know on running a business within the UK.

Pact is a national charity which supports people affected by imprisonment. We provide practical and emotional support to prisoners' children and families, and to prisoners themselves. Pact provides services in 35 prisons across England and Wales. This includes Family Support Caseworkers, Visitors' Centres, children's play, tea bars, relationship and children education courses and resettlement projects. Pact also run training for prison, probation and local authorities.

FRA was established in 2007 as an EU Agency with the specific task of providing independent, evidence-based advice on fundamental rights. The agency's 90 staff members include legal experts, political and social scientists, statisticians, and communication and networking experts. Their work is guided by the FRA Management Board. The Board is responsible for defining the agency's work priorities, approving its budget and monitoring its work.

Children, young people & families

Health and Social Care

Health and Social Care

Family, young people and children

This is your gateway to Health & Social Care Services in Northern Ireland, containing links to the Acute and Community Services provided by the 5 Health Trusts, General Practitioner Surgeries and Clinics, Health Boards and Agencies and central government healthcare services. There is advice about healthy lifestyles, the latest local, national and international health news and online access to medical databases.

The PSA promotes the health, safety and well-being of users of health and social care services.

Welcome to the Children and Young People's Mental Health and Wellbeing Profiling Tool. It has been developed to support an intelligence driven approach to understanding and meeting need. It collates and analyses a wide range of publically available data on risk, prevalence and detail (including cost data) on those services that support children with, or vulnerable to, mental illness. It provides commissioners, service providers, clinicians, services users and their families with the means to benchmark their area against similar populations and gain intelligence about what works.

SENDirect has worked in partnership with other organisations to bring together and create information that may help to support you and your family. We have divided it up into the sections below for you to browse through. We are working on new information all the time, so if you can't find something you need using the search button (the one next to the login and register buttons at the top of the page) you can contact us to see if it's something we are working on. If you want to write or share useful information with us, again, please let us know.

Established in 1992, the Eating Disorders Association (Northern Ireland) exists to provide support, information and understanding to people with eating disorders as well as their families and friends. EDANI is a charity based in Belfast City Centre that has a national focus, operating services across Northern Ireland. Eating Disorders such as Anorexia, Bulimia and Binge Eating Disorder affect an estimated 1.6 million people in the UK with many more suffering in silence.

Official statistics are produced impartially and free from political influence.

The Observatory has been set up to provide better information about the health and health care of people with learning disabilities and people with autism in Scotland. The Observatory will generate and translate information into knowledge, that is designed to inform actions, practice and policy to benefit people with learning disabilities and people with autism.

This website supports practitioners working on making positive post-adoption contact plans and supporting birth relatives and adopters through contact planning for their child. The materials on this website bring together knowledge from research and practice. They draw on research by Professor Beth Neil at University of East Anglia. Research in Practice has worked with Beth and practitioners across England to share expertise and produce accessible and practical resources for professionals involved in this work.