Faith and Family Hubs

Family Hubs are a government initiative open in 75 Local Authorities across the country. The vision is for them to be ‘one stop shops’ for families with children aged 0-19 (or up to 25 is SEND) to access support with everything from infant feeding to parenting to debt advice and housing. For Family Hubs to be truly successful, they require Local Authorities to collaborate with the Voluntary, Community and Faith Sector (VCFS) to signpost and connect families; recognising that families are most likely to access support in their local area and where they already have trusted relationships. 

For many Local Authorities, it can be difficult to know where to start with engaging the faith sector. Who do you approach? How do you understand their offer?

ChurchWorks supports local churches to engage with their local authorities up and down the country, as one of our key mission areas. We’ve done this through hosting webinars, developing resources and offering consultation calls with individual churches. The ChurchWorks Secretariat, run by the Good Faith Partnership (GFP) also works to support churches, as well as other faith groups to connect with local authorities and coordinates a National group of multi-faith leaders around the topic of Family Hubs and Faith engagement. 

Bristol City Council, one of the 75 Local Authorities to receive Transformation Funding from the Department for Education, opened 3 Family Hubs in Summer 2023, operating out of existing Children’s Centres. Bristol City Council were keen to develop greater connections with the faith sector across Bristol and enlisted the help of the Good Faith Partnership to assist them in bringing different sectors together.

The ‘Faith and Family Hubs’ learning event, attended by more than 80 guests on Tuesday 14th May 2024, brought together faith leaders, voluntary and community organisations and children and families professionals from across the city to learn from each other, understand what support is available for families and deepen cross-sector relationships. The event was structured around the three key Family Hubs principles of Access, Connection and Relationships.

The day started with ‘thinking rounds’, inspired by Nancy Kline in her book ‘Time to Think’, encouraging attendees to give each other their full attention as they heard each person on their table share a fond memory of a family tradition, bringing out stories of Christmases, Sunday lunches and watching the National Lottery draw, among many others.

Throughout the day guests talked about access to support services for families, connections between faith groups and family support services and explored ongoing relationships between Family Hubs and faith groups.

Delegates discussed what is needed to make support for families more accessible.Transport, work to eradicate shame, waiting lists and getting the word out effectively were all mentioned. Other areas to explore in terms of giving full access included longer opening hours for services, culturally diverse teams, inclusive language, interpretation, trust, sharing food and offering a virtual as well as a physical space.

The half-day conference also discussed ways of strengthening partnerships and collaboration between the council and the voluntary, community and faith sector across the city. 

There was a buzz in the room as people shared their goals of supporting families, met friends and colleagues, and made new connections. As one delegate put it: “We want families to feel treasured.”

An event survey completed by just under a third of attendees reported that 70% of attendees felt their knowledge of family hubs had improved ‘significantly’ through attending the event. Attendees were asked to describe their ‘offer’ of services to support families, including parenting courses, stay and play groups and debt support. When asked if they would like to become part of the Family Hubs Network, over 60% of VCFS organisations that answered said yes.

Good Faith Partnership will work with Bristol City Council over the coming month to draw out key learnings from the event, foster links between organisations and develop a strategy for longer-term partnership working.

If you are a local church wanting to find out more about Family Hubs, you can watch our webinar here. If you are already connected with your local Family Hub or Local Authority, we’d love to hear from you and share your stories of collaborative working. You can email us at info@churchworks.org.uk.