Introduction

Family Hubs help families in Devon, with children up to 19 (25 with SEN and/or care experienced), to build strong, healthy, and happy lives by enabling access to a network of community-centred support or services to promote emotional, social, physical, and financial well-being. Together we are committed to creating a supportive and inclusive approach for all families in Devon, ensuring they have access to the resources and help they need, when they need it, to enable them to thrive.

Overview

We are transitioning from the current Family Hub model to a new offer aimed at providing increased support to families. Our journey involves moving from a building-based model to a more community-focused and digital approach, ensuring families can access support within their local communities and in ways that are flexible. We aim to provide a seamless pathway of support, from universal services to targeted early help, ensuring families receive the right help at the earliest opportunity. The family hub offer will be underpinned by multi-agency collaboration. We will bring together our partnership of services including, Children Services, health, education, and voluntary and community sectors, to provide a holistic support system for families.

This includes support for families with children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) by facilitating, and offering access to, local opportunities and activities already happening in communities for disabled children and young people. Access to mental health support, or those experiencing parental conflict, and will contribute towards the ‘Best Start for Life programme.

Our current Early Help offer for Devon has learnt much over the past few years so will retain key elements of the current offer, such as Locality Triage, Pregnancy Support Pathway Meetings, Locality Partnership Meetings, Practitioner Forums, and the Parental Conflict Programme. These elements are crucial for providing coordinated support and ensuring that families receive timely and appropriate interventions. This approach will ensure that families have access to a wide range of services and support, tailored to their specific needs.

The development of this new model involves a phased approach, with ongoing consultation and engagement with families, communities and our partnership of organisations and services. We will ensure that the new offer is responsive to the needs of families and can adapt to changing circumstances. This includes ongoing review and evaluation to ensure that the model is effective and sustainable.

Continual Consultation and Development

We will engage in continual consultation with families to ensure that our services are responsive and effective. This includes developing young people and parental involvement in shaping the support they receive. By working closely with families, we aim to create a supportive and inclusive environment that promotes the well-being of all families in Devon.