How does Care for the Family support marriage and couple relationships?

Updated

Care for the Family is a national charity that promotes strong family life and helps those facing family difficulties. Its couple support covers four areas: preparing for marriage, married life, supporting couples, and The Marriage Challenge. If you are looking for help at any stage of a relationship — from engagement through to a relationship on the brink of breakdown — the couple support section is the place to start.

What the couple support covers

The charity's couple support is organised around four stages:

  • Prepare for marriage — for couples looking ahead to marriage
  • Married life — for those already married and wanting to strengthen their relationship
  • Supporting couples — for people who want to help other couples
  • The Marriage Challenge — a specific initiative within the couple support area

This means the support is not limited to one point in a relationship. Whether you are preparing for marriage, navigating married life, or trying to support someone else's relationship, there is a matching entry point.

Support for relationships on the brink of breakdown

The charity explicitly includes relationships on the brink of breakdown among the situations its work addresses. Its donation page states that £30 per month could provide support for relationships on the brink of breakdown. So if your relationship is in serious difficulty, this is a category of support the charity recognises and funds — it is worth exploring the couple support section rather than assuming the resources are only for preventative or early-stage help.

What forms the support takes

Based on the site's own description, support is delivered through:

  • Practical articles — the charity says its regular updates include "practical articles, top tips, and encouragement"
  • Events — including live tour events listed on the site
  • Resources — for example, resources to help parents navigate online dangers, and bereavement support days
  • Training — a "Train to support others" pathway for those who want to help others

The couple support area sits alongside parent support and bereavement support, so if your situation spans more than one of these — for example, relationship strain alongside parenting pressures — you can draw on more than one section.

How to find the right entry point

  1. Go to the Care for the Family website.
  2. Look for the Couple Support section, which lists the four areas above.
  3. Choose the area that matches your stage: preparing for marriage, married life, supporting couples, or The Marriage Challenge.
  4. Select Find out more within that area to see the specific resources and next steps.

If you are unsure which area fits, start with the one closest to your situation — the four categories are broad enough that most relationship stages fall into one of them.

Getting involved beyond receiving support

The site offers several ways to participate:

  • Get stuck in — a general involvement pathway
  • Train to support others — for those who want to help other couples
  • Shop — the charity's shop
  • Live tour events — in-person events
  • Media — the charity's media content

You can also sign up for regular updates, which the charity describes as full of practical articles, top tips, and encouragement, plus news about its work and events near you.

A note on funding

Care for the Family states it receives no government funding and relies almost entirely on donations. Its donation page gives examples of what monthly amounts could fund, including £30 per month for support for relationships on the brink of breakdown. This context is useful if you are considering donating, but it does not affect your ability to access the couple support resources — the support sections are presented as the charity's core work, not as a paid service.