What Labour needs to do to meet the needs of modern family life

Today 4Children is publishing a vision for children and family services for the next Parliament and beyond – which will extend their integrated approach into new “Children and Family Hubs” and start the conversation about what a truly 21^st Century Sure Start offer, which meets the needs of families today, might look like.

These new hubs, based on a tried and tested approach in Sure Start Children’s Centres, will coordinate a full range of children and family services in one place, at the heart of every community. They will span childhood and beyond and offer a comprehensive range of services from pregnancy right the way through to age 19.

Since their introduction, Sure Start Children’s Centres have become the hallmark of family support, enabling millions of families across the country to fulfil their potential by providing them with the support they need to flourish.

Despite cuts to services and threats of further closures demand for the vital services Sure Start Children’s Centres provide is growing to record levels. Our Children’s Centres Census, published last month, found that more than a million families are relying on support from Centres, including 335,000 families at the very edge of crisis. Worryingly, over half of Sure Start Children’s Centres (53%) said meeting demand for services would be a challenge during the coming year.

Sure Start Children’s Centres have pioneered the integration of health, education, employment and specialist support services around children and families. We want to see Labour committing to ensuring Children and Family Hubs extend this approach by bringing GPs, health visitors and a new class of social care family worker together under one roof.

This would help with critical multiagency working and information sharing –factors identified by Serious Case Review after Serious Case Review as lacking – and would form part of a set of measures to overhaul social care, which could protect more children at risk of serious harm.

Labour MP Sarah Champion, who has done much work in this area since the Rotherham scandal broke, has warmly endorsed our new approach:

“After the horrific abuse suffered by children in my constituency, I am often asked what we need to do to combat child abuse and raise awareness in our communities. One of the answers I give is that we have to find a way to make public services work more closely together, to share information and to put the needs of children and families at the centre of what they do.

“That’s why I’m fully behind 4Children’s proposal for Children and Family Community Hubs where services come together to focus on children and families – from antenatal care through to social care. Evidence from Rotherham has shown that we urgently need to reform the way we support and protect children. Introducing Children and Family Community Hubs should be the first place to start.”

And we are going further – recommending the introduction of a new role, a “social care family worker” set to transform social care provided for children and allow social workers to focus their stretched resources on more complex cases. They will work closely with other agencies to break down the silos which some professionals still work in, reducing the possibility of vulnerable children slipping through the net.

Families are our country’s greatest asset – we hope Labour will support the creation of Children and Family Hubs to truly transform public services and meet the needs of modern family life.

Anne Longfield OBE is Chief Executive of 4Children