Children and Family Centres

On this page you will find information on:

What are our aims?
What are our priorities?
Can I use a Children and Family Centre?
Core purpose
Start for Life
List of Children and Family Centres

Children and Family Centres

There are 12 Children and Family Centres in Tower Hamlets. These are free and open for all parents and carers with children from birth-19 years of age (up to 25 for those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities), who live in the borough to access a range of services including:

Play
Family support
Health
Training
Employment

Our Children and Family Centres aim to improve outcomes for all children, young people and their families. They enable access to a range of universal and targeted services, support with any concerns and play a major part in early identification and early intervention.

What are our aims?

To support parents in their role as the first educator
To empower families to access a wide range of care, play and support services
To be a centre for joined-up services with partners

What are our priorities?

Health and wellbeing
Childcare and employment
Parenting confidence and capacity
Child development and school readiness

Can I use my Children and Family Centre?

Each Children and Family Centre has a locality area. We prioritise families using the following order:

Children living within the reach of the locality
Children living within the borough of Tower Hamlets.

Core purpose

The core purpose of Early Help and Children & Family Services is to improve outcomes for all children, young people and their families, as well as reduce inequalities between the most disadvantaged children.

Children playing with paint arts

We follow  statutory guidance and achieve this through the following targets:

Child development and school readiness, to enable children to become confident and curious learners by providing early learning opportunities:
- Through universal and targeted stay and play sessions.
- By providing support to access free early learning childcare entitlements.
- Working in partnership with schools and other providers.
Raising aspirations and improving parenting skills, which will support parents to give their child the best possible start to life by providing:
- Family support.
- Evidence-based parenting programmes.
- Specialist programmes and targeted services for parents/carers.
Reducing inequalities through supporting parents to improve economic wellbeing by reducing health inequalities by improving health and life chances, and ensuring that children are safeguarded by supporting parents/carers to access:
- A range of health services.
- Family support.
- Advice and support on public health outcomes.
- Partnership with the community and stakeholders.
Supporting parents/carers into training and employment by providing:

Start for Life

The Council and our partners want Tower Hamlets to be a great place for expectant parents and carers, and a great place for babies to be born in. We talk about the time that spans a child’s earliest developmental stages as the first 1,001 critical days, starting from conception and continuing until a child is two years old.

We want to ensure that our services, staff and volunteers, places and online resources meet parents, carers and babies’ needs in ways that are helpful, and considerate.

During the first 1,001 critical days every aspect of a baby’s environment has an influence on their physical, emotional, and social development; and parents and carers’ own well-being affects how emotionally available and responsive they can be with their baby.

A baby’s brain develops very rapidly during the first 1,001 critical days, and babies’ interactions and experiences during this time affect their development later: for example, when forming relationships, developing language, and becoming a confident learner.