The Family and Parenting Institute is coordinating a coalition of 12 leading family charities to attend the Liberal Democrat, Labour and Conservative Party Conferences this Autumn.

The coalition is made up of the Family & Parenting Institute, Relate, Gingerbread, The Fatherhood Institute, the Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships, One Plus One, Family Action, Parenting UK, Children England, Home-Start, Parentline Plus, and Family Links.

Informed directly by their work with parents, children and practitioners in communities across the country, the group will be hosting a series of seven fringe events discussing issues of great importance to families. Between them they provide helplines, face to face services, information, and research; reaching hundreds of thousands of families each year and we will use this knowledge to inform policy makers of the real issues families face today.

For more information about The Family Room or any of the events check out their website or Facebook pages.

You may particularly be interested in the three events being held in Brighton at the Labour Party conference:

Stuck at the bottom? What happens to the worst off families in a recession?

27 September, 18.00 – 19.30
Lancing 2, Holiday Inn, Brighton

Speakers include:

• Helen Dent, Chief Executive, Family Action
• Fiona Weir, Chief Executive, Gingerbread
• Emily Thornberry MP for Islington South & Finsbury, Chair of the All Party Maternity Group
• Helen Goodman MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Work and Pensions

Better Late than Never: Has Labour learned to love the Couple Relationship?

28 September, 12.30 – 14.00
Lancing 2, Holiday Inn, Brighton

Speakers include:

• Cristina Odone, Journalist
• Susanna Abse, Director, Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships
• Claire Tyler, Director, Relate
• Graham Allen MP (tbc)

Negotiating Fatherhood – a key to strengthening parental relationships?

29 September, 18.00 – 19.30
Shelley Suite, Thistle Hotel, Brighton

Speakers include:

• Yvonne Roberts, Journalist; Senior Associate at the Young Foundation
• Penny Mansfield, Director, One Plus One
• David Bartlett, Deputy Chief Executive, Fatherhood Institute
• Donal MacIntyre, Journalist
• Rt Hon. Ed Balls MP, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families