Your friends, family and pets

We support you to see the people who are important in your life such as family and friends.

If you are under 18

Your social worker will have a plan in place to keep you in touch with family members and other important people to you.

If you are not seeing the people you want to see, talk to your social worker or conference reviewing officer.

When you turn 18

We can help you keep in touch with people you've had arrangements to see before you were 18. For more information see the allowances and assistance for care leavers page.

Other important people

For other important people in your life, your personal advisor (PA) will support you to think through and overcome any barriers to keeping in touch.

We know many young people are not from the UK and will have family they will want to see. We understand that family members are important to you and we will help you to stay in touch by supporting you to:

• overcome any barriers to keeping in touch remotely if your family are in a different country
• locate family members in this country
• get help from the Red Cross to make contact with your family members outside of this country
• look at all your options should you wish to visit your family in a different country

Young parent group

We have a young parent group who are care leavers who have children. This group support each other and have social events. They meet online and face to face. They offer advice to each other.

If you are interested in joining this group, speak to your PA or our Voice and Participation team.

Enabling Families Early Help

West Sussex Enabling Families offers up to 5 sessions with a family support assistant for all parents and parents‑to‑be. You can access these sessions at Family Hubs across the county.

If you are a Care Leaver parent or parent‑to‑be who is under 25, you can get 2 extra sessions. These can take place at your home or somewhere else that you feel comfortable.

We hope that being able to meet a family support assistant in a place you choose will give you confidence and reduce any worries you might have. You can hear more about what the sessions involve or choose to start your sessions at home.

You can also find out about the activities and resources available for you and your children through our Family Hubs.

To take up this offer, speak to your PA. They will contact the Family Hub for you. A family support assistant will then call you to introduce themselves and arrange to meet you wherever you prefer.

If you would like your PA to come to the first session, just tell them. If you are over 21 and do not have a PA, speak to the duty line and they will help you to access this help. Find the duty line number on the contact us page.

Advice and support

Your PA is not qualified to give advice on parenting matters, so they will need to put you in contact with those who can. Just ask and they will help you.

We know parenting can be hard and sometimes you may just want help to access information relating to services for your children. There is support available to you. Speak to your PA, health visitor, child’s school or nursery, or you can contact our Integrated Front Door for help.

Our Integrated Front Door can be contacted during office hours by phoning 01403 229900.

You can also access information for children in our physical and mental health section from the NHS.

West Sussex County Council provide the Family Information Service (FIS). FIS gives free, impartial, up-to-date information to all families about childcare, activities and services for 0 to 25 year olds.

For information on antenatal and new parent offer, see our financial support if you are having a baby section.

Contact with your own children

If you are not living with your child or children, they may have a social worker now or might have had one in the past. If you are finding contact with them difficult, speak to your social worker or PA. They can talk to the right people and help you get support.

Protect your online reputation by learning how to manage your digital footprint.

Do not put anything online that you would not want your parents, carers, teachers or friends to see. Once you have pressed send it is no longer private. Find out more about sexting and how to stay in control at get safe online.

Use strong passwords with a combination of numbers, letters and characters. Don’t use the same password for different sites and never tell anyone else what your passwords are.

Don’t accept friend requests from people you don’t know, or share personal information with strangers. Learn the signs that someone may be trying to groom you online.

Do not use pirate sites to download content such as games, films and music.

If someone has made you feel weird or uncomfortable online you can report it. It could be sexual chat, being asked to do something you don’t want to on webcam or someone asking to meet up. You can:

• talk to someone you trust about it - a friend or family member, social worker or PA
• report somebody to Child Exploitation and Online Protection by calling 101 and speaking to the police
• if you are under 19 years old, contact ChildLine for advice and support