Family hubs
What are early help family hubs?
Family hubs are dedicated warm open access spaces for families. Families can drop-in to meet members of the Early Help Team to have a conversation about things that may be troubling them. They can also stay for a while, catch up with others, have a coffee and a chat and even speak to professionals from other services who may be able to help them.
Family hubs can offer help and support when families need it the most, within their own communities. They're a gateway to information, advice and guidance about the things that matter the most to families, and the team can support them to access help from the right people at the right time. We work together with a range of other services, including health, education and the voluntary and community sector, to provide an integrated offer with a balance of professional and community help.
Family hubs are built around the needs of the local community, if the hub can't meet your needs we'll adapt and change to make those services more accessible. With digital platform services available, we can link families to the information they need, support them to make necessary phone calls that have just been too difficult to do themselves, or just be a listening ear when they need it the most.
Family hubs aren't just for families; professionals can drop in to speak to a member of the team, to find out more about possible support for those families they are working with or seek help on how to be the lead professional, complete early help assessments and develop family plans. For more detailed peer support, professionals can link in with their local integration panels.
In summary the hubs:- Provide support for families with children and young people aged 0-19 or up to 25 years of age for young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities
- Work with families as part of a team and deliver specialist interventions when needed in the family’s home or in a local accessible venue agreed by the family
- Link with local education, early years and childcare providers, health and voluntary sector partners and community groups
- Provide information and advice services for parents and prospective parents
- Provide an environment for services to work together and not in isolation
- Offer and coordinate support for cases ‘stepping down’ from children’s social care
How will support be accessed by families?
Families can drop in to any family hub drop-in session to receive support, advice or information (no appointments are required), and are able to access a directory of local family services and provision.
Families can also talk to someone they know, such as their children’s nursery, school, school nurse or health visitor. This person, who already knows the family, can then co-ordinate support for the family. They will also have a direct link into the family hub, and with the family’s consent may submit a referral to the hub to access more targeted support. This will be planned and agreed with the family.
Once assessed, a family might receive targeted family support in their home, might be supported to access a group or a clinic provided at their local hub or local community venue, or may receive a combination of appropriate support co-ordinated by their allocated support worker.
Hubs can be contacted for consultation and guidance via Shropshire Council’s First Point of Contact on 0345 6789021, who will gather and forward information to an appropriate worker who will make contact.
Hub locations
The five family hubs in Shropshire are located as follows...
- Oswestry - 9 Arthur Street, Oswestry, SY11 1JNN - family hub drop-in open every Monday from 9:30am - 12 noon
- Market Drayton - Raven House, TF9 3AH - family hub drop-in open every Tuesday from 9:30am - 12:30pm
- Shrewsbury - Sunflower House, Kendal Road, SY1 4ES - family hub drop-in open every Tuesday from 9:30am - 12:30pm
- Ludlow - Ludlow Youth Centre, Lower Galdeford, Ludlow, SY8 1RT – family hub drop-in open every Monday from 9:30am – 11:30am
- Bridgnorth - Library, 67 Listley St, Bridgnorth WV16 4AW - family hub drop-in every Tuesday from 1pm - 3pm
A need for a sixth hub has been identified in Whitchurch. However there isn't currently a suitable building, so this area will be serviced via the Market Drayton hub in the interim.
The flow of work
Referrals coming into the hubs, including cases ‘stepping down’ from children’s social care, will be received by the local early help team manager, and will be recorded on Shropshire Council’s early help case recording system.
All referrals will be reviewed to ensure that work is allocated to the right worker with the right skills and knowledge. Any appropriate local services will also be considered in supporting the ongoing work with the family. This will encourage and enable families, as cases are stepped out of targeted early help, to continue to access support from wider universal provision available in the local community.
The early help manager will ensure that the ‘step down’ from the children’s social care pathway is applied, ensuring that the family’s needs and ongoing support are clear, and a handover period is in place to ensure against drift and delay.
Family hub spokes
Our family hub 'spokes' can take a number of forms: information points at your local community centre, scheduled appointments in your local schools, or pop up information, advice and guidance sessions on the 'let's talk local' community bus, for instance. Living in a rural county comes with its own challenges, and we recognise that it's not always possible for families to come along to one of the family hubs. We aim to provide a flexible spoke service to ensure that families can stay connected and have an equally accessible service, wherever they live in Shropshire. The current hub spokes are:
- Whittington Coffee and Chat - Whittington Primary School - First Tuesday of the month from 9am - 11am
- Weston Rhyn Coffee and Chat - Weston Primary School - Second Tuesday of the month from 9.30am - 11.30am
- Ellesmere Coffee and Chat - Ellesmere library - Third Thursday of the month from 9am - 11am
- St Martins Coffee and Chat - St Martins School - Third Thursday of the month from 9.30am - 11.30am, starting 19 January 2025
