General help and advice
Support with the cost of living:
General advice:
Citizens Advice support with a range of issues, debt, housing, immigration, legal advice
Cost of living support: Overview – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Financial support:
CAP work with individuals and families experiencing debt and/or poverty, giving debt advice and support and helping people to manage their money.
Oxford Churches Debt Centre – Home of the CAP Debt Centre in Oxford
Housing:
Better Housing: A service supporting residents to keep warm, stay safe & live well in their homes.
Home – Better Housing Better Health (bhbh.org.uk)
Feeding a family:
The BBC , among other organisations, has some useful guides to eating on a budget for a variety of dietary requirements.
Budget recipes and advice – BBC Food
Eating healthy on a tight budget: 6 top tips – BHF
Some tips to save money on food – British Nutrition Foundation
Eat well, spend less | British Dietetic Association (BDA)
Some supermarkets are selling fruit and veg boxes for as little as £2.
The Centre for Early Childhood
Shaping Us (centreforearlychildhood.org)
Child developmental and emotional milestones
What to expect when. If you have any concerns your child is not meeting these milestones please contact us (see above)
Child developmental and emotional milestones 0-5 (Solihull Approach)
Courses for parents and carers
The Solihull Approach team at “Our Place” run a free course for parents about understanding the impact of the pandemic on children. The Solihull Approach is an evidence based way of understanding and relating to your child while also support your own emotional wellbeing.
You can access the free course here:
Understanding the impact of the pandemic on your child
School readiness – is your child ready for school? There is information to help you here:
Getting children ready for school | Oxfordshire County Council
Your health visiting service is here to give you support and advice up until your child’s 5th birthday. If your child is soon to be 3 or older think about the following:
- Toilet training. Are they toilet trained in the day (before the age of 5 years they may not yet be dry at night)
- Sleep. Do they sleep through the night and not wake too often (they might be having a nap in the day)
- Diet and nutrition. Do they enjoy a range of foods, trying new foods after a few attempts, and are a healthy weight. Do they drink plenty of water in the day.
- Play and social & emotional development. Are they enjoying imaginative play. Are they noticing and interested in other children and may join them to play.
- Gross motor development – Are they running and jumping, without tripping or falling too often.
- Fine motor development – have they now a preferred hand and can they scribble. Can they use a fork and put on some clothes by themselves. Can they build simple towers with toy bricks.
- Speech, language and communication. Are they putting words together to make simple sentences that make sense. Have they made progress over the past few months. Can you and others understand their words. Can they respond to more complicated suggestions or instructions, such as ‘Find the big car’; ‘Open the box and get the lorry out’. If not, do they understand simpler instructions. Do they have a persistent stammer.
See also the expected developmental and emotional milestones at age 3-5 here:
Child developmental and emotional milestones 0-5 (Solihull Approach)
If you have any concerns, then please contact the HV service via our Chat Health ParentLine 0-4 years, by texting 07312 263081
Oxfordshire County Council have produced a leaflet about school readiness and how to support your child to thrive in the early years!
Parents Oxon Attendance leaflet March 2023 FINAL
Children with special educational needs and/or disability (SEND)
For children with special educational needs or disability: Early Years SEN toolkit | Oxfordshire County Council
Please also see our webpage of support services here: Support for children with additional needs – Health Visiting ServiceHealth Visiting Service (oxfordhealth.nhs.uk)
Short breaks and activities for disabled children: Short breaks for disabled children | Oxfordshire County Council
Children who were born premature
For babies and children who were premature: For babies born premature or sick | Bliss
All about Health
Easy read healthcare information for people with a learning disability, their families, carers, professionals and anyone who supports them – All About Health | (oxfsn.org.uk)
Single parents
Gingerbread is the national charity for single parents. They provide free support services for single parents:
Twins or more!
If you have had twins (or more!) the Twins Trust (previously TAMBA) is here to help you:
Support for adoptive parents
“Early Help” – if you feel you need extra support
At times any families may need a bit of extra support – and when that happens, it’s ok to ask for help. Early help is there to make sure worries don’t become bigger and you get the support you need at the right time.
- There are lots of different reasons you might need early help:
- You could be worried about your own or your child’s health, development or behaviour, or how things are going at nursery.
- You could be caring for others, or maybe you’ve had a bereavement in the family, and it’s made life a real challenge.
- It may be that you’re worried about money or housing and how it’s affecting your family.
Maybe you or your family are affected by domestic abuse, mental health, drugs, alcohol or crime
If you feel your family and children may benefit from extra support and early help, please talk to your health visitor. We will only be too happy to help and bring in any additional support that may be helpful to you and your family. The leaflet below gives some further information about the support “Early Help” can provide.
22-0049-A4-Leaflet_Early-help-guide-for-families.pdf (oscb.org.uk)
General information
Resources For Families & Individuals | Oxford Brain Story — Oxford Brain Story | AFWI
Oxford Health links to useful websites and apps: Links – Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
Oxfordshire Family Information Service: Family Information Directory (oxfordshire.gov.uk)
Birth to Five book: Birth to five 2021
Page last reviewed: 1 December, 2023