Family Support Introduction

The Family Support service was established in September 2004 and over the years the National Blind Children’s Society has helped well over 3,500 families. The Family Support Service offers on-going emotional support, advice, information and practical help at and around the time of diagnosis and at crucial stages in the child's life. We can provide advice and support to parents and carers regarding issues and concerns that may arise during various stages of their child's development.

For more information call 01278 764 770.

How we can help

The National Blind Children’s Society Family Support and Information Service offers a comprehensive 'one-stop-shop' service for parents, carers and professionals.

Contact the Family Support and Information Service and talk to someone who will listen, support and offer practical help and advice regarding issues and concerns relating to children with a visual impairment.

For parents and carers we provide:

• Information relating to your child's eye condition, in parent-friendly, easily understood format. We provide information and contact details for national specific eye condition groups, who may provide more specialist information and may be able to link you to other families who have children with the same eye condition.

The Family Support and Information Service provides good quality information regarding any aspect of your child's visual impairment. For example:

• A programme to help parents to work with their child during the various stages of pre- school development
• Information on what is low vision
• Suggestions for appropriate toys and suppliers
• How to respond to the questions and worries of brothers and sisters
• Guidelines for completing Disability Living Allowance forms
• Who's Who (the specialists you may come into contact with)

We find that parents sometimes find it difficult to link into the various systems that are essential in supporting their visually impaired child in the early years. We will advocate on your behalf if you find you are having difficulties accessing statutory services. When a parent first contacts us we will inform them of appropriate early years intervention support that should be in place.

We offer an individual parent listening support and advice service. Following diagnosis parents can feel isolated and bewildered, having to cope with a host of mixed emotions. Families have reported that they benefit from having access to a professional listening service.

A benefits advice service is aimed at supporting parents through the process of completing Disability Living Allowance forms. We offer information about other areas of funding and benefits available.

We provide contact with other parents and offer a telephone linking service.

Direction Point is a comprehensive directory of national contacts and services throughout the UK relating to children with a visual impairment.

Our extensive resource base operates from our Birmingham central office, where parents can view a collection of specialist toys, helping parents who are looking for ideas for stimulating their visually impaired child. The resource base houses a library of information and specialist books relating to many aspects of visual impairment in babies, children and young people.

The resource base is a pleasant environment for families to meet with members of the Family Support team, to discuss any issues and concerns they may have, while having the opportunity to browse through the collection of material available. Please contact us on 01278 764770 or email enquiries@nbcs.org.uk if you wish to meet at the Birmingham office or would like information forwarded to you.

PDF and text versions of our Family Support and Information leaflet can be downloaded through the links below.

Family Support and Information leaflet - PDF

Family Support and Information leaflet - text only