Consultation for Staffordshire's Children's Centres

Staffordshire County Council and its partners are making a commitment to change the way we currently deliver services for families locally. We want to provide a better co-ordinated approach so that all expectant parents, parents children and young people have services that are easy to access and meet their needs.  Offering the right help, in the right place at the right time.

In Staffordshire, together with our partners we have already committed to providing children and families with the support they need at the earliest opportunity by the people who are best placed to help.  We will be inclusive, positive and build trusting relationships with families. We will work with families to put what they need first, as listening to families is at the heart of what we do.

Whilst we think that Children’s Centre’s are a resource for many families, we recognise that they focus on 0–5-year-olds and not the whole family and their needs.

Our proposal

Staffordshire’s Early Help Strategy outlines how we have listened to what families have told us.

You told us: 

• You want people working with you and your family to talk to one another, so you don’t have to keep on repeating the same things time and time again.
• You want asking for help to be easy to do, as everyone needs help now and again. You don’t want to be judged when asking for the help you need or telling us about what life is like for you.
• You want us to all work together to provide this help earlier, as sometimes this comes too late.
• You want to know what support there is. You want it to be clear and easy to use.
• You want to be able to ask when you don’t know where to go.
• You want us to do this in person sometimes as some things are easier to say in person.
• You want this close to where you live and easy to find.

To enable us to deliver what you need, we would like to change the existing 11 Children’s Centres in Staffordshire. In addition, we would like to add two additional county council buildings,

• Families First at Faraday Road in Stafford
• Families First at Basin Lane in Tamworth  

Our proposal is that these sites would be Family Hubs. The government requires the local authority to consult with residents if it plans to make a change to the way we use Children’s Centre’s, so we want to check if you are happy with this proposal. This will not result in centre’s closing, nor the current services and support stopping, we want to build on this to better meet the needs of a broader range of people in your family.

What are the Family Hubs?

In order for you to let us know your view we thought it might help if we told you a little but more about Family Hubs.

• Family Hubs offer information, help and support to families from conception up until age 19 (or 25 for young people with SEND). They bring together a range of different services to provide support around health, housing, parenting, relationships, mental health and wellbeing, special educational needs and disability, youth provision to name a few.
• The hubs will act as a single point of contact that can be accessed face to face, via the phone or virtually and offer information, advice and guidance as well as delivering the early years provision that our Children’s Centres currently provide.

Your views matter, listening to families is at the heart of everything we do which is why it is important you have a chance to tell us what you think about our proposals.  Staffordshire County Council is committed to meeting the needs of our children and families and this consultation is open to all residents and professionals.