Issue - meetings

Report of the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People shared details of the emerging development of the Family Hubs. This was part of the manifesto pledge to champion Family Hubs across England, bringing together a whole family approach enabling families access to early advice, information and support at a local level.

The Committee considered details of the emerging vision for the development of Family Hubs in Staffordshire, demonstrating how ambitions for Family Hubs would contribute to the delivery of the Families Strategic Partnership Children, Young People and Families Strategy, the Early Help Strategy and the development of the Place Based Approach for Children and Families.  Members received details of the emerging thinking regarding the development of the Family Hub Model. They were reminded that evidence showed a child’s experiences from conception to five played a critical role in their development. Measurable gaps in outcomes between disadvantaged and vulnerable children and their peers could emerge early before children were two years of age with these being difficult and costly to close. In particular, evidence showed that a child’s home environment, and parent-child relationships, were central to early development and there was a strong financial case for providing Early Help at this age to prevent later more costly support.

Family Hubs were designed to overcome difficulties some families may face in understanding how to access support, improving the coordination of national and local services and their delivery to vulnerable and disadvantaged families with children aged from conception to nineteen. Members heard that whilst the pandemic provided a challenging backdrop, it had sharpened awareness of the risk faced by some disadvantaged and vulnerable families of being left behind and had encouraged local agencies to explore greater integration and enhanced partnership working.

Staffordshire has a well-developed existing network of Children’s Centres which currently focused provision on the Early Years. This network of Children’s Centres (operated through the Early Years Coordination Service) sought to deliver a seamless integrated service within communities in relation to the Early Years. The delivery of Staffordshire’s Children’s Centres was underpinned by the Children Centre Statutory Guidance.  This statutory guidance stated that Local Authorities were required to consult with families if they planned to make changes to the delivery of the Children’s Centre Services. With this in mind the Committee’s support was sought to engage in a period of consultation with families to develop the Children’s Centre’s into Family Hubs with a broader age remit and offer of holistic placed based support working with partners.

Members heard that the aim was to develop a Staffordshire Family Hub model which:

a)    brought together a range of provision into a coherent, connected and accessible offer to families around a local place, supporting them to achieve and maintain positive outcomes and seek to prevent needs from escalating;

b)    placed a focus on early help and prevention with the communities of Staffordshire;

c)    took a whole-family approach and was available to families with children aged 0- 19 (and up to 25 for those with SEND), providing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19