Grandparents Plus is the national charity (England and Wales) which champions the vital role of grandparents and the wider family in children's lives

 – especially when they take on the caring role in difficult family circumstances. We work to support grandparents and the wider family by:

• Campaigning for change so that their contribution to children's wellbeing and care is valued and understood
• Providing evidence, policy solutions and training so that they get the services and support they need to help children thrive
•  Advising and supporting grandparents and wider family members by ensuring that they have access to professional advice and information, can have a voice and help each other, especially when they become children's full-time carers

Peter Limbrick writes –

I have had the privilege of facilitating some group sessions with grandparents of children with disabilities and special needs. I have learned that grandparents can have the same need for emotional support as their children do when a baby is born - and in the months and years after that.

 I am also keenly aware that some grandparents, although living nearby, might hold back from offering to look after their grandchild because of nervousness about the child's condition or medication.  

If local practitioners around the child can offer these grandparents support and training, this can help everyone.

Learn more about Grandparent Plus here

AFT's key aim is to benefit the public by working to continually improve standards of professional family therapy and systemic practice

AFT is the leading body representing those working with families in the public and independent sector in the UK. The broad group of therapies under the banner of "systemic family therapy" work not only with families, but with individual children and adults, couples, and the wider communities of clients.

They work in ways that not only support change with individuals but also in their relationships in the family and beyond, so children, young people and/or those important to them are supported in continued recovery.

AFT is a membership organisation. Membership is multi-disciplinary; and open to anyone with an interest in family therapy and systemic practice. Overseas members are welcome.

Find out more here

MOVE Europe is a small, UK based charity working with Local Authorities, schools and organisations to improve the mobility and wellbeing of children who have physical disabilities and/or complex needs through the use of the MOVE Programme

The MOVE Programme was first established in California when it was discovered children were leaving school with less physical skills than when they had started. The goal-orientated programme was then developed which focused on targets tailored to the individual's needs, set by the individuals themselves and their families to support the development of functional sitting, standing, walking and transferring.

For more than 110,000 severely disabled children across the UK, the most basic of actions – raising their head to look out of the window, going to the toilet independently or walking outside to join their friends to play – are a huge challenge. However, our experience has shown that such tasks need not be insurmountable, many of these children and adults just need the opportunity to MOVE.   

The MOVE Programme is not a therapy but a practical mobility and movement based programme based on the central philosophy that movement is the foundation for learning. The MOVE Programme supports the integration of a child's functional movement into everyday activities and provides a teaching and learning process for the whole team around the child including teachers, therapists, carers and parents.

The unique MOVE Programme provides a consistent and fully integrated approach to teach new skills to help improve independent mobility. Furthermore, it also supports the development of cognitive and communication skills and improves health and social inclusion for children with physical disabilities and/or complex needs.

To date there are over 600 schools and organisations using the MOVE Programme across the UK with over 3,000 Practitioners trained and 13 MOVE Regional Centres of Excellence. MOVE Europe has also established 13 Local Authority Development Agreements throughout the UK to establish the programme sustainably within whole areas.

To learn more about the MOVE Programme, its benefits and the training options available, please see www.move-europe.org.uk or contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / 020 7403 6382