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Tower Hamlets Family Hubs
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What are Family Hubs?
Family Hubs are a new way of bringing together all the support a family may need, from pregnancy through to young people turning 19 (or 25 if they SEND).
Tower Hamlets vision is for Family Hubs to operate as a network of services which includes health, education, housing, council and the voluntary sector.
These services work together to provide high quality, whole-family, joined up support, ensuring that children, young people and families get the right help at the right time.
The Family Hubs initiative was launched by Andrea Leadsom in conjunction with the Anna Freud Centre and the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF)
“The Government has committed to championing Family Hubs. They are a way of joining up locally to improve access to services, the connections between families, professionals, services providers, and putting relationships at the heart of family help.
Hub buildings are supported by virtual offers, with services for families with children of all ages. How services are delivered varies from place to place, but these principles are key to the Family Hub model.”
Our Start for Life offer contains the services that are available to parents and carers in the first 1,001 critical days, information on Start for Life services and how to access them can be found at:
Start For Life Offer | Tower Hamlets | Family Hubs (thfamilyhubs.co.uk)
Our shared vision for Family Hubs
Every child, young person and family feels included in their communities. Is happy and healthy and can get the help they need to thrive and reach their potential.
By sharing resources and working together, we can ensure families receive the services they need. Parents will feel supported and part their communities accessing help they need without barriers.
This shared and integrated Early Help approach, will mean:
- Coordinated services resulting in healthy, happy babies and young children who are well attached to resilient and confident caregivers
- Healthy, happy children and young people progressing through their education. Developing emotional resilience, social skills and positive aspirations
- Young adults in appropriate education, training or employment. In stable relationships and with living skills that make them healthy and independent
Our shared mission
Early Help in Tower Hamlets is delivered through a family hub approach
We are a community of families and services that are working together to provide timely support for families by helping create opportunities to improve the lives of children.
What are we doing?
We are currently in the first stage of the Family Hub development process.
We are gathering information to outline the needs of children, young people and families and engaging with all relevant stakeholders to understand how best Family Hubs can meet those needs.
To do this, we have held the following stakeholder events:
Family Hubs networking event: Wednesday 3 February 2022
This event was about bringing together partners to network and acquire feedback, ideas and suggestions on the locality working model.
The aim of the partner network launch event is to bring together local organisations that work with families to discuss how we can embed a community driven, coordinated early help offer for families with children aged 0-19 (25 with SEND).
Parent Family Hubs networking event: Wednesday 23 March 2022
This event was about giving parents a chance to give feedback on the services for families, children and young people and in explaining the Family Hub approach.
There were many different organisations who had information stalls. The event was also attended by Deputy Mayor Cllr Asma Begum.
Family Hubs Workshop - Building a Consensus for Change: Thursday 31 March 2022
This workshop for parents, carers and practitioners was about reviewing local strengths and areas for development. We looked at how services for children, young people and families are organised and agreed on the desired outcomes for children and families.
Family Hubs Workshop - Testing & Validating the Theory of Change:
Wednesday 5 October 2022
The purpose of this workshop was to share information on what we have done so far to prepare for the development of Family Hubs in Tower Hamlets. Also to look at different models for delivering services through a Family Hubs approach. We shared the milestones that the government needs us to meet and the next steps in our journey towards them.
We were delighted to have parents at the workshop; and the sectors represented at the workshop included health, schools, voluntary and community.
South West Locality Pilot Workshops
Workshop 1: Friday 25 November 2022
We held the first workshop in the series to share information on our progress so far, milestones, and the key priorities from our Theory of Change.
In early November we selected the South West Locality to pilot our Family Hub approach between January and May 2023.
At the workshop we started a conversation about what the pilot could include, and what results we would want to see from it.
Workshop 2: Thursday 1 December 2022
It was good to welcome parents, partners and front-line workers to our third open session planning for the South West Locality Family Hub Pilot.
Our priorities were agreed earlier this year at a series of forums and workshops where we created our Theory of Change.
This session looked at:
- What is working well across health outcomes from pre-conception to age 19 (age 25 with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) and what needs to change.
- What is working well across mind health and well-being, especially with young people, and what needs to change.
Workshop 3: Wednesday 7 December 2022
After a brief overview of the Family Hubs delivery guidance and feedback from the second workshop on Thursday 1 December, we moved on to discuss what we would like to see happening in the pilot.
This session looked at:
- Educational and employment outcomes for children, young people and their parents.
- Independence and community involvement for children and young people with SEND.
- Keeping children safe from harm boroughwide.
Workshop 4: Wednesday 14 December 2022
After a brief overview of the Family Hubs programme, the five key priorities were discussed and feedback was provided on the 10 potential pilot work streams resulting from the inputs from the previous three workshops.
This session looked at:
- The potential 10 workstreams under consideration for development.
- The Key drivers for the Start for Life launch as part the Family Hubs programme.
- Parent/Carer panel aims and objectives as part of the Family Hubs programme.
If you would like more information please email Abdullah.Tawhid@towerhamlets.gov.uk.
South West locality pilot launch
We are pleased to announce that we will pilot a Family Hub in the South West Locality from January 2023, with a plan to open Family Hubs in all four localities by March 2024.
The locations for the pilot will be:
- John Smith Children and Family Centre, 90, Stepney Way, E1 2EN
- Ocean Children and Family Centre, Whitehorse Road, E1 0ND
- Ocean Children and Family Centre (Shadwell), 418 Cable Street, E1 0AF
- Wapping and Bigland Children and Family Centre, 115, Richard Street, E1 2JP
Locality partnership
Locality partnership have been set up in each of the four localities within Tower Hamlets – North West, North East, South East and South West.
The purpose of the groups is for stakeholders within each of the respective localities to come together and support the Family Hub development process.
Each Locality Partnership consists of stakeholders from the council, health sector, voluntary sector, local schools and nurseries, as well as parents and family representatives.
Each Locality Partnership aims to meet every 4-6 weeks.
North West Locality Partnership Group
- Thursday 27 July 2023, 2-3.30pm
- Thursday 28 September 2023, 2-3.30pm
- Thursday 30 November 2023, 2-3.30pm
- Thursday 25 January 2024, 2-3.30pm
- Thursday 28 March 2024, 2-3.30pm
Please contact Luthfa.Rahman@towerhamlets.gov.uk or 020 7364 4803 for more details.
North East Locality Partnership Group
- Wednesday 19 July 2023, 1-3pm
- Tuesday 19 September 2023, 1-3pm
- Tuesday 21 November 2023, 1-3pm
- Tuesday 23 January 2024, 1-3pm
- Tuesday 19 March 2024, 1-3pm
Please contact Luthfa.Meah@towerhamlets.gov.uk or 020 7364 5319 for more details.
South East Locality Partnership Group
- Thursday 27 July 2023, 2-4pm
- Thursday 7 September 2023, 2-4pm
- Thursday 2 November 2023, 2-4pm
- Thursday 18 January 2024, 2-4pm
- Thursday 14 March 2024, 2-4pm
Please contact Sue.Nolan@towerhamlets.gov.uk or 020 7364 7729 for
more details.
South West Locality Partnership Group
- Tuesday 18 July 2023, 10-11.30am
- Tuesday 7 November 2023, 10-11.30am
- Tuesday 9 January 2024, 10-11.30am
- Tuesday 5 March 2024, 10-11.30am
Please contact Abdullah.Tawhid@towerhamlets.gov.uk or 020 7364 3262
for more details.
Upcoming events and activities
Family Hubs - South West Locality Network Launch
Calling all families and organisations in Tower Hamlets!
We’d like to invite you to the official launch of the Tower Hamlets Family Hub network in the South West locality on Thursday 28 September.
We’re excited to have the opportunity to bring together partners and families from our Family Hubs network followed by an afternoon of family activities and networking in White Horse Open Space and Ocean Children and Family Centre. Keynote speeches will start at 1pm.
Get your ticket! Please confirm your attendance on the Eventbrite to ensure access to lunch on the day, and to receive further details about the event nearer the time. We look forward to seeing you there!
How can you get involved?
Join one of our four Locality Partnership groups and Parents Forum which are open to families.
Speak to a Community Engagement Manager at one of our Children and Family Centres and find out more about the Family Hubs.