Contact a Family

209-211 City Road
London
EC1V 1JN

Tel (Family Advice Helpline): 0808 808 3555
Tel: 020 7608 8700
Tel (Minicom): 0808 808 3556
Web: www.cafamily.org.uk
Best time to telephone: Helpline, 10am - 4pm, Monday - Friday

Contact a Family was established in 1979 with a primary aim of encouraging mutual support between families of disabled children. Their services include the following:

• Freephone family advice helpline (see above).
• Supporting over 800 mutual support groups covering all disabilities.
• Maintaining and developing another network of over 300 groups covering specific conditions and rare syndromes, many of which are life threatening.
• Operating a national telephone helpline (number as above) which is open for any parent or professional to use for advice, support and access to their information database.
• Producing a newsletter for parents, Share an Idea, and a number of factsheets on subjects such as child disability benefits and holidays.

One of their major areas of work has been the production of the CaF directory of specific conditions and rare syndromes. It contains details of almost 500 conditions, many of them rare syndromes. As well as information on the condition, details on the available support groups and organizations willing to help parents and families in various ways is provided.