Published Thursday 22 June 2023 at 15:47
There has been lots of excitement this week as four of the eight children’s centres in the borough were launched as Family Hubs.
Monday (the 19th of June) saw the launch of Family Hub Little Harwood with BWD Mayor, Coun Parwaiz Akhtar in attendance to cut the ribbon declaring it officially open.
There was food, games and a marketplace with information stalls from council services as well as partner organisations.
Parents, carers, and children joined in the activities taking place at Little Harwood, Shadsworth, Livesey and Darwen Children’s Centres.
Councillor Julie Gunn, Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education, said:
In Blackburn with Darwen we know that the first 1,001 critical days, from conception to age two, is a time of rapid development. This is why we are committed to providing holistic early help and care for all our families.
“The purpose of our hubs is connection – services, professionals and sectors working together.
“As far as reasonably possible, the Family hub model has been designed on a neighbourhood footprint and preserves the strength built around our current network approach to continue to achieve the best economy of scale financially.
“These four chosen sites are already the largest and facilitate the widest range of services out of all eight centres.
In April 2022, the Government announced that 75 local authorities were eligible to benefit from the Family Hubs and Start for Life funding package.
Blackburn with Darwen was allocated a grant of 2.9 million.
The new hubs will offer support from conception through to age 19, or up to 25 for children with special education needs and disabilities. Parents will also be able to access a range of support through the hubs from midwifery to mental health support, health visiting to infant feeding advice.
The hubs will also provide early language and communication development for young children to set the foundations for lifelong learning and prepare them for school at age five.
Maria Nugent, Early Years’ Service Lead at Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, added:
We are working with parents and carers to ensure that our family Hubs and children centres are a clear, simple point of access for help and support.
“The family hubs and the children centres will work in partnership, as we know, all of us have a vital role to play in supporting children to have the best Start for Life.
“They are also essential to our core mission of ensuring every child and young person has the opportunities to fulfil their potential.
Filed under : Family Hub | Family Hubs