Management Information Sheet
Norfolk's Start for Life and family hubs approach
The Start for Life and family hubs approach is taking shape, with a new Start for Life offer now online and hard copies being distributed in the coming weeks. This includes information about services that families will receive from conception up to the age of 2, including infant feeding, parenting support and maternity services.
We've launched a Parent and Carer Panel to help shape the Start for Life offer, with over 15 members signed up. The first panel met in April of this year and is meeting again on 21 June.
The aim of our Start for Life and family hubs approach is to ensure families can get the help they need as early as possible, by joining up the services that support children and their families, so they only have to tell their stories once.
In February, Norfolk County Council (NCC) was awarded £6m of one-off funding from central government to develop the offer and approach, which aims to support families from a child's conception, right through to their adult life.
The programme supports the shared ambition that Norfolk is a place where all children and young people can flourish and is being taken forward through a partnership approach, working across NCC, health, provider and voluntary sector services to strengthen our prevention and early help offer for families. It also aligns with the Councils Local First Inclusion programme, which includes developing school and community teams to ensure that children with special educational needs are receiving the right support.
There is a focus on improving access to support for families from lower socio-economic groups, families of children with special educational needs and disabilities, or those from groups who experience exclusion.
It is also supporting multi-agency workforce development for staff across agencies and organisations working with children, young people and families, alongside developing opportunities for parents and carers to act as parent champions offering peer support.
The majority of funding is assigned to enhancing our Start for Life offer, detailing the support and services available for parents and carers who are expecting a baby or have a baby under the age of two, including:
- Parenting support
- Perinatal Mental Health and Parent-Infant Relationship support
- Infant Feeding support
- Establishing a Parent and Carer Panel
- Publishing our Start for Life offer
Additionally, parents and carers of children aged 3-4 will be able to access support for their children's learning and development within the home.
The family hubs approach is enabling us to build on the work already happening to support families with children up to the age of 19 (25 with special educational needs and disabilities) within local communities. This includes working with community groups and in the places that families already go, such as community supermarkets or libraries, where families access information, advice, and guidance. This way of working is ensuring that families can receive support that is better coordinated and is meeting all of their needs as a family.
Resources for families have been brought together online, so that it is easier for them to access information, advice, and guidance.
Whilst most of the work will be delivered in the local community or families’ homes, families will also be able to access existing community buildings that they already use. At least seven of these venues, covering each district area, will extend the services available onsite and be designated as a family hub site. The first four of these venues are the St Augustine Healthy Living Centre in King's Lynn, and the Early Childhood and Family bases in Thetford, Gorleston in Great Yarmouth and Catton Grove in Norwich.
For information on the support on offer in Norfolk visit:
www.norfolk.gov.uk/familyhubs
https://www.justonenorfolk.nhs.uk/family-hubs
We need parents and carers to help develop Norfolk's approach by joining the Parent and Carer Panel. Anyone interested in getting involved can email familyhub@norfolk.gov.uk
For more information about Norfolk's Start for Life and family hubs approach please contact familyhub@norfolk.gov.uk