For more than two centuries, the Naval Children’s Charity (NCC) has stood beside the children and young people of Royal Navy families—children whose lives are shaped by service, sacrifice, and challenges that can often go unseen. At the heart of our charity is a simple belief: that no child should suffer because of the unique pressures placed on their family by military life. Every day, our work aims to relieve hardship, reduce distress, and restore hope for those who need us most.
Royal Navy families face circumstances unlike any other community. Mobility, frequent separation from a serving parent, uncertainty, and heightened emotional stress all take a toll on young people. Research consistently shows that military children experience elevated mental health risks, disrupted education, and instability that can have lifelong consequences. For those with neurodiversity or special educational needs, the strains of service life layer heavily upon existing challenges.
The NCC exists to relieve these pressures. Our support is grounded in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs—addressing immediate crises, safeguarding wellbeing, nurturing confidence and self-esteem, and enabling children to thrive. We work with empathy, compassion, and evidence-based practice to meet families where they are and help them move from crisis to stability, from distress to resilience, and from fear to opportunity.
Our History and Mission
Founded in 1825, the NCC began by establishing orphanages in Chatham and Portsmouth to care for children of Naval families who had suffered unimaginable loss. As society evolved, so did the charity. The sale of the orphanages allowed investment income to sustain our administrative costs today – ensuring that every donation and grant we receive directly relieves the suffering of children and young people.
Our mission is clear: to support the wellbeing and development of children and young people from serving and veteran Royal Navy families, recognising the extraordinary pressures they face. Our vision is that every Naval child can realise their potential with spirit, pride, and hope restored.
There are up to 105,000 Naval children in the UK, with an estimated 10% requiring additional help. Many live near Naval bases in concentrated communities, many are dispersed around the UK, yet too many of them remain hard to reach. The reasons families turn to us are often rooted in human distress:
For many, the difference between coping and crisis rests on whether support reaches them in time.
We have a range of different programmes of support available:
Find out more here.
The Naval Children’s Charity is proud to be part of such a strong, collaborative and connected sector. The caseworking that so many organisations do to ensure that, no matter whereabouts an Armed Forces family is, they receive support from any of us is truly impressive. Mosaic is a unique system in the Charity sector, bringing together so many organisations who can offer direct financial support and, as in the case with The Naval Children’s Charity, pick up the family, identify other hidden need and find the way to help.
Our dedicated caseworkers are the first line of human support, offering compassionate, non-judgmental assistance tailored to each family’s needs. Outreach workers engage communities across the UK, strengthening awareness and building trust. Through national collaborations—such as the Cobseo Children’s Cluster and the SCIP Alliance—we amplify our voice to ensure that Naval children are not forgotten.
Membership of Cobseo is an integral part of that collaborative work that makes our sector so strong. I am particularly proud of the Cobseo Children’s Cluster – bringing together a range of practitioners to identify the challenges our children and young people face, best practice in supporting them, areas for increased collaboration and partnership working, evidence from research and, as in the recent work of the Cluster around children with additional learning needs, drive systemic change at government level.
Afghanistan support
In light of recent events in Afghanistan, please find information and support resources here