For every £1 we spend, 87p helps children and families

Too many children and young people have or are at risk of developing mental health issues.

1 in 6 young children and young people are currently experiencing mental health problems – this is a significant increase from 1 in 8 before the pandemic.

Action for Children helps children and young people to build the mental resilience they need to cope with life's many pressures. We provide intensive one-to-one support and counselling, as well as group work and confidence building activities, tailoring all support to help young people to face their own challenges.

“I used to overthink things. Then my anxiety would take over. Now I know to remind myself it's OK to feel that emotion and how to move past it.”

Harvey Sparrow, young person on the Blues Programme

Thanks to the support of people like you, Action for Children helped more than 110,000 children and young people to improve their mental health last year.

This Children’s Mental Health Week, we're asking you to support Action for Children with a £1 donation so that we can continue our life-changing work.

Together, we can support even more children and young people on their journey to better mental health.

More about our work

We protect and support children and young people. We do this by providing practical and emotional care and support. We make sure their voices are heard. And we campaign to bring lasting improvements to their lives.

Today, we run 447 services in local communities across the UK, in schools and online.

In our nurseries and children's centres, staff make sure children get the best start in life. Our foster, adoptive and modern residential services find children and young people safe and loving homes.

We step in to protect children from neglect and abuse and help those who care for others or are at risk of homelessness. Innovative projects like The Blues Programme give young people the help they need to look after their mental health.

We're also here for parents, through projects like Parent Talk, our online support service.

What we've achieved

We’ve been helping children for more than 150 years. In 2021/22 we helped 671,275 children, young people and families. This was only possible with your support.

  • Since 1861 we’ve helped more than two million children and young people.
  • 94,689: the number of people reached with mental health support in 2021/22.
  • 469,900: the number of people reached by our online parenting advice service, Parent Talk, in 2021/22.

Your donations help us to support vulnerable children, young people and their families in the UK.

86p of every £1* we spend goes directly towards helping children, young people and their families. Your support is so important right now because levels of financial hardship, abuse and neglect have been rising. We’ve seen a huge surge in demand for our services. Your donations help us to run these essential services, which give vulnerable children and families a vital lifeline.

We make sure that every penny you donate goes where it will have the greatest impact on children’s lives.

Most of the donations we receive from our campaigns are unrestricted. This means they’re not spent on one project or one specific area of the UK, but where the need is greatest. We wouldn’t be able to operate as a charity without this type of income. Unrestricted funds help us reach the children and young people who need us most. Funds raised from this appeal will be unrestricted and used by Action for Children for its general charitable purposes. Please see the Our Work and Impact for examples of the work we do to help children and young people and their families.

* Figure based on audited 2021/22 charity accounts that exclude subsidiary companies like commercial nurseries

Donating a small amount every month by direct debit helps us give vulnerable children the stability they need. Our regular supporters help us carry out long-term work and keep vital projects running.