Where can I find support groups for SEND parents?

Start with your council's SEND Local Offer, which by law must list local support groups and parent carer forums; or find your free, DfE-funded local parent carer forum through the charity Contact (England). You do not have to hunt at random, and you do not need a diagnosis or an EHC plan to join, the help is open to any family whose child has special educational needs or a disability.

Begin with your council's Local Offer

Every council in England has to publish a SEND Local Offer, the single page that sets out the support available for children and young people with SEN in its area (Children and Families Act 2014, section 30). That offer is legally required to include information about parent carer forums and about support groups for families (SEND Regulations 2014, Schedule 2). So your council's Local Offer is the guaranteed, comprehensive first stop: search your council's name plus "Local Offer", then look for the family support or parent carer section.

Join your local parent carer forum through Contact

Alongside ad-hoc groups, the Department for Education funds one official parent carer forum in every local authority area in England. A forum is more than a chat group: it is the recognised way parents feed into local SEND decisions, so joining gives you both peer support and a formal voice. The charity Contact is the DfE's delivery partner and keeps the national directory, so you can find and join the forum for your area free of charge. Contact also runs its own free online support groups and a freephone helpline that can point you to a local group if you are stuck.

If you want advice as well as company

Support groups give you other parents who understand; for impartial information about your rights, ask your local SENDIASS (the free Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information, Advice and Support Service), which every council must fund. National charities run UK-wide communities too, useful if you are in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, where the Local Offer duty does not apply, or you want a condition-specific group:

• National Autistic Society community and branches;
• Scope's online community for families of disabled children;
• Contact, which supports families with disabled children across the whole of the UK.

Whatever group you find, you can also look at what a parent carer needs assessment is, a separate route to practical help for you, not just your child.

This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.