Care leavers who are parents

Page contents

Before you become a parent

If you are thinking about becoming a parent there is support and advice available covering a wide range of subjects including healthy relationships, sexual health and family planning. The Surrey Family Information Service contains information about a number of support services in Surrey and nationally which you may find useful. The Healthy Surrey website also has lots of helpful information about support you can access.

We know that often when people are becoming parents it makes them think about their own experiences of being parented. You can speak with your personal adviser (PA) about the support that is available to you where you are living and you can access dedicated support from Mindworks Surrey.

Support with parenting

Your PA can support you in identifying parenting support across Surrey or local to where you are living. The Surrey Family Information Service is a good source of information for online and in person parenting courses happening at different venues throughout Surrey. You can also speak with your health visitor or GP about local parent and baby groups and other parenting resources.

Surrey's Family Nurse Partnership

Surrey's Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) service supports women aged 19 or under who are expecting their first baby, from early in pregnancy until their child is two years old. The service is delivered by a team of specialist nurses who are based at Leatherhead Clinic but who work across the whole of Surrey.

The voluntary programme provides on-going intensive, structured support from specialist nurses. They work closely with you to ensure you receive practical health and emotional support and advice for you and your baby

Baby Buddy App

Baby Buddy is a free pregnancy and parenting app which provides trusted, evidence-based information and self-care tools for parents, co-parents and caregivers in Surrey. It aims to empower you to build your knowledge and confidence, from early pregnancy to your child's first birthday with:

  • Fun, engaging interactive features to 'learn without the burn'
  • A huge video library – including tips on breastfeeding and the Small Wonders Change Programme for premature and low birth weight babies
  • Out of the Blue – videos promoting mental health
  • Support and advice particularly tailored to dads
  • 'Today's information' - personalised, bite-size daily updates

The Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership

The Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership aims to support parents and carers in keeping their children safe. The website contains references to safe sleeping, accident prevention, advice about medicines, safe bath time and car seat use.

Support groups and advice

Family Lives

Family Lives services are free to access and here to support you with parenting and family challenges. You can access one-to-one support you to connect with experienced professional family support workers and highly-trained volunteers. Family Lives also offers self-guided online parenting courses to learn skills to help you in your family life. Find out more about the different services Family Lives offers.

Family Rights Group

The Family Rights Group offers support for parents and other family members whose children are involved with or need social care services. Family Rights Group have an advice line which can offer free independent and confidential advice supporting you to work with social workers and understand the law, your rights and options.

  • For advice, call 0808 801 0366 (9:30am–3pm, Mon–Fri), or you can ask a question by completing a enquiry form.

Gingerbread

Gingerbread is a support service that provides expert advice and information to support lone parents so that they have the tools to support their children and themselves. Gingerbread also provide a support network so that, with Gingerbread, no lone parent is ever alone.

Expectant dads

We've included here some resources that might be useful for expectant dads below:

Dad Info

Dad Info is Europe's largest advice and support website for fathers. Dad.info provide engaging, helpful, practical, entertaining resources and content for dads at every stage of their journey. You can sign up to an online community to get the latest blog posts, invites to live web chats, fun ideas your child/ren will love, plus much more.

Fatherhood Institute

The Fatherhood Institute is a UK charity working to build a society that values, prepares, and supports men as involved fathers and caregivers.

Support with the children's social care process

There may be times when Children's Services may need to assess how best to support a new parent in caring for their child. This usually happens when there are worries about their ability to safely meet their child's needs, and it is not specifically related to a young person's status as a care leaver. Some situations where social care might consider an assessment include:

  • if the person is dealing with substance or alcohol misuse,
  • if they are experiencing significant mental health challenges,
  • if they are affected by domestic abuse, whether as a victim or perpetrator,
  • if they have learning difficulties and might need support in parenting a newborn.

In Surrey we have two teams that are dedicated to undertaking assessments before babies are born. We work with expectant parents identifying the things they are good at whilst supporting them to learn new skills. This is part of our Family Resilience practice model where a range of professionals work together with families to assist them.

If there are any worries about your ability to safely meet your child's needs and an assessment needs to take place, your PA will be able to support you in any meetings, ensure that your views are heard, that any plans for your child are clear and you understand the things you need to do in order to ensure your child is cared for safely.

Health services for new parents

Registering your baby with a GP

Register your baby with your GP as early as possible in case you need their help. You can contact your GP at any time, whether it's for you or your child. If you move, register with a new GP close to you as soon as possible. If your baby is not yet registered with a GP but needs to see one, you can receive emergency treatment from any GP surgery.

How your health visitor can help

A health visitor is a qualified nurse or midwife who has had extra training. They're there to help you, your family and your new baby stay healthy. A health visitor will usually visit you at home for the first time around 10 days after your baby is born. Until then you'll be cared for by local midwives.

Your health visitor can visit you at home, or you can see them at your child health clinic, GP surgery or health centre, depending on where they're based.

Talk to your health visitor if you're struggling with your mental health, they can give you advice and suggest where to find help. More information about support can be found on the NHS website. They may also be able to put you in touch with groups where you can meet other parents.

The Perinatal Mental Health Service is operated by the Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. It is a specialist perinatal mental health service for those planning a pregnancy, are pregnant, have a baby up to 12 months old, or those who have or at risk of developing serious and complex mental health need.

Child health clinics

Child health clinics are run by health visitors and GPs. They offer regular baby health and development reviews and vaccinations. You can also talk about any problems to do with your child, but if your child is ill and likely to need treatment, see your GP. Some child health clinics also run parent and baby, breastfeeding, and peer support groups.

Healthcare for you and your child

Your personal adviser can help you access health services such as:

  • GPs
  • Midwives
  • Health Visitors
  • Dentists

If you would like additional support to attend appointments please speak with your PA who may be able to attend some appointments with you or if you are living in supported accommodation arrange for support from your nominated keyworker.

You may be eligible to receive:

  • free prescriptions
  • dental treatment
  • other health costs

Your personal adviser can tell you about this. You can also check if you can receive free prescriptions on the NHS website.

Education and pregnancy

If you wish to continue with your education and are having difficulty in funding childcare before Funded Early Education and childcare for 2, 3 and 4 year olds (FEET) funding becomes available, please speak to your PA and we will consider the individual circumstances of each care leaver and how we can support you to continue with your education.

Financial support

Help with everyday parenting costs

As part of pathway planning your PA will continue to support you with money management and budgeting ensuring you are able to access all financial support and any local resources that can support you.

If you are living outside of that area please speak with health professionals and your PA about similar organisations operating locally to where you live.

  • Stripey Stork is a Surrey based baby bank which does amazing work to support families in Surrey and Croydon with items for their babies.
  • The Baby Bank Alliance aims to support baby banks in the United Kingdom (UK) so that every baby and child in the UK has the supplies and clothing that they need to thrive. On the website, they have a map of baby banks across the country. You can search for a baby bank in your local area simply by adding your address or postcode.

You could receive a one-off payment of £500 to help with the costs of having a child. This is called a Sure Start Maternity Grant. The grant needs to be claimed within 11 weeks of the baby's due date or within 6 months after the baby's birth. Find out more about Sure Start Maternity Grants.

If you're more than 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under 4, you may receive help to buy healthy food and milk. You can apply on the Healthy Start website.

You will also be able to claim child benefit for additional financial support.

Funded Early Education and childcare for 2, 3 and 4 year olds (FEET)

If you are claiming state benefits your child may be eligible to claim FEET.

Funded Early Education for two-year-olds offers eligible families up to 15 hours of funded early education and childcare a week for 38 weeks a year. Eligible children can receive FEET from the start of the funded period following their second birthday. These periods are set by the Department of Education rather than following school term dates.

Your child can continue to receive FEET until the funded period after their third birthday when they will become eligible for 30 funded hours for 3 and 4-year-olds (If you are in employment)

Once your child has been agreed for FEET they will continue to be funded even if your family does not meet the criteria at a later date.

Did you find this information helpful?

Rating Did you find the information helpful?

We aren't able to reply to individual comments, so please don't include any personal details.

Subscribe to our newsletters for latest news and events.