Hi @hairbyme ,
The teen years are a pretty common time for young people to start exploring romantic relationships, and I think that a lot of parents find that quite a confronting and nerve wracking time! Parents are often concerned about several different aspects of relationships, is it the prospect of your son getting involved in a sexual relationship that worries you? Or is it navigating other aspects of relationships?
Does your son have anyone in particular that he's interested in, or is it more about him being interested in having a girlfriend in general?
Is your son active in the deaf community? We are based in Australia so I don't have in depth knowledge of services in the UK but did come across this resource for deaf young people that looked pretty interesting, it has a lot of opportunities for young people to connect here
We have a few resources on our Parents page that may be helpful in terms of talking to him about relationships and helping him to build skills to form respectful romantic relationships.
You know your son best - it's great that he's open to talking to you about what's happening for him, and I'd really encourage you to build on that and maybe have some discussions around relationships - I would imagine that at 16 it may become difficult to stop him from having a girlfriend, so could be good to help him build those skills in having a healthy and respectful relationship, as well as having conversations around sex and consent if you think he's considering becoming sexually active .
Wishing you all the best- please feel free to keep us posted on how you're getting on
