LB Barking and Dagenham – Support for Family Hubs

Work started with us facilitating a partner networking event to bring together professionals from partner organisations that work with children, young people, and families in the North Locality, and across the Borough,  to discuss how they can deliver a more integrated and coordinated early help offer to families with children aged 0-19 (25 with SEND), through Family Hubs and our wider Family Hub network.

The event provided an opportunity to meet in person (not happened for a while), to learn more about the services that each deliver, and to start shaping and harnessing opportunities for greater integrated working and how they could intervene earlier to improve outcomes for our children and families.

Things moved at pace with the remit and geographical reach becoming whole borough as a result of need and significant investment into the borough. We supported the design and development of models of practice and three further partnership events, called Partners in Practice events. Events explored:

• How Family hubs could work
• Governance structures
• the role of a children's early intervention panel
• The role of family navigators - supporting early intervention and prevention
• Parental involvement
• The new information portal - a one stop shop for up-to-date information about resources and services for families, and a first port of call for professionals wanting to make referrals.
• Additional services being commissioned by LBBD and HealthPartners with the start for life funding

Interface have been very professional and flexible in meeting our changing needs. Their experience has been incredibly beneficial in their role as critical friend.