Cllr Angela Coleman, Family Hubs Lead, blogs about a new approach to supporting families in Liverpool…
I’m excited to be leading the launch of Liverpool’s new Family Hub network.
Liverpool is a national trailblazer for many things. So it’s fitting that we are one of the very few cities and one of only 75 councils across the country adopting this model.
We want to make sure that wherever someone in Liverpool is on their life journey (be it preconception, looking after a newborn, or navigating the complications of young adulthood), they and their wider families have the support they need to thrive, and live the lives they want to live.
That’s ultimately what Family Hubs are all about.
They will build on the assets and strengths that exist within our communities to provide wrap-around support for the entire family, whatever shape they come in, and whatever their situation.
They’ll bring together multiple partners under one roof to support people with services such as infant feeding, mental health, health and parenting, debt advice and youth support.
We know how frustrating it can be for families to have to repeat themselves to various organisations when trying to sort out a challenge they’re facing. And we also understand the value of intervening early on when problems do occur so we can get to the real root causes and provide a long-term, all-encompassing solution to help people to live more independently.
By bringing partners together under one roof where they can work and communicate together much more seamlessly, we’ll be able to reduce that duplication and reduce the risk of missing opportunities for early intervention.
As a part of the Family Hub programme, we’ve also recently launched the digital Start for Life offer: it’s a single, reliable, evidence-based online resource. It will offer advice to mums-to-be and to parents of newborns.
I’m looking forward to being at a consultation event about Family Hubs at Spellow Library on Friday 14 July.
And I’ll also be with Council Leader, Cllr Liam Robinson, to launch our first Family Hub network on 19 July at Clubmoor and Ellergreen Children’s Centre.
The new Family Hub model starts now, for the benefit of the future of all of Liverpool’s many diverse families.
