The Families Plus service available from Children North East is built on our experience of delivering family support services through the well respected Family Link volunteer based family support projects and Newcastle Supporting Families Project. Families Plus will bring together the wealth of experience, creativity and quality of delivery that have, over the years, become synonymous with family support services in Children North East.

Our experience of delivering support services to families over many years has taught us the benefits of volunteer based support for families who may need time to form positive relationships with workers, support over extended periods of time and a listening ear to help them make sense of their experience. By contrast, we understand that in order to meet the needs of children effectively, some families need to make significant change quickly. For them an intense package of support over a relatively short period of time is more appropriate. Some families will benefit from both models of support and Families Plus will be well placed to meet the needs of these families.

In bringing together the experiences of our previous family support packages i.e. Family Link and Newcastle Supporting Families, Children North East will once again be responding to the changing environment in social care whilst maintaining our identity and independence as an innovative voluntary sector organisation.

Support for families is high on the Government agenda for Children’s Services. Their Every Child Matters: Change for Children agenda, rooted in the need for change identified through Lord Lamings’ report into the death of Victoria Climbíe, and wider reaching concerns about the divide between different groups of children and young people in our society, provides a framework for fundamental change in the way services for children, young people and families are planned, organised and delivered.

The focus on outcomes for children demands a shift in thinking away from an emphasis on what we do, to what we achieve for children and young people, and recognises the critical role that parents have in supporting positive outcomes for their children. The changes support a focus on working with children, young people and families at an early point in order to either prevent concerns escalating or to provide an appropriate intervention. Through Families Plus we can provide families with a broad based package of support, addressing a range of needs, with the aim of positively shaping the futures of children and young people.

Families Plus is founded on the belief that the family is the best place for children and young people to develop and grow and to reach their potential and that the majority of families will benefit from some support at some point. Family life brings rewards; it also brings demands and challenges.

Families Plus also believes that investment in the family through support for mothers, fathers and carers can have a positive impact on outcomes for children and young people. Based on an underpinning value of respect for individuals and individual circumstance, demonstrated through an open, honest and non-judgmental approach, Families Plus will empower families to work towards solutions which meet the needs of their children. By providing an individually tailored package of support, between the hours of 7.30am and 8pm over seven days a week, we can ensure that the service is truly responsive to families and available at times of greatest need in order to maximise impact.

The flexible nature of the service creates a model of working that can respond to changes in family circumstances thereby reducing the need for families to be passed through a number of services if their needs change significantly.

For more information about Families Plus please contact Children North East on:
0191 256 2444 or e-mail enquiries@children-ne.org

Families Plus
Supporting Families - Shaping Futures