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We will be carrying out essential maintenance on our website on Tuesday 23 April 2024 between the hours of 8.00am and 10.30am. During this time, the website may experience technical issues. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Help with family relationships


We offer relationship support for families, so that you have the right advice, during difficult times.

See our Relationships matter pages to find out what support is available to help improve your relationships.

Support for family relationships is needed for many different reasons. As well as advice for your situation, we provide advice around housing, money, benefits, health and how to keep your family safe.  

Whether you and your partner are together or separated, disagreements in your relationship can affect your child's behaviour, emotions and feelings, both now and in the future. The 'Relationships Matter' programme can give you free support and space to talk about your relationship and how family disagreements can impact on your child. 

If you think you need support with reducing conflict/arguments in your relationship and have at least one child aged 0-18 years (or 25 years if your child has a disability) or are expecting your first child and one parent lives in the North East region, please speak with a professional you may already be working with. This could also be your health visitor, school or nursery, or you can call our First Contact Service on 03000 267 979.

Relationships break down for many reasons - see below some of the circumstances where we can help.

  • you are a young parent and need support, including help with parenting skills
  • if you - or your child - is a young carer
  • if your family is going through a separation, or are living apart
  • if there is domestic abuse in your family

The help we give will depend on your situation. Examples of the support we give includes:

  • practical help to develop skills such as cleaning, cooking or housework
  • parenting classes
  • referring you to organisations that can help you
  • family meetings

Team Around the Family (TAF)

Every family has its ups and downs and sometimes you or your child/ren may need extra support. An assessment can help us to find out what support your family needs, as well as what is working well for you. We call this a single assessment. It allows us to share information with the services that can help you, meaning you only have to tell your story once. We have a  Icon for pdf Single Assessment and the Team Around the Family (TAF) - A guide for parents and carers (PDF, 368.1kb) .