Stuart Anderson MP is delighted that the City of Wolverhampton Council has been selected as one of the first local areas to pilot a new programme designed to help families overcome challenges at an early stage, keep children safe, and make sure those in care have stability, long-term loving relationships, and opportunities for a good life. Between July 2023 and March 2025, the Families First for Children (FFC) pathfinder programme is investing over £45 million in a number of local areas to co-design and test the implementation of reforms across Family Help, Child Protection, and Family Network Support Packages. Dorset, Lincolnshire, and Wolverhampton are the first places chosen to run the programme, the findings of which will inform wider roll out.
As part of the pilot, Wolverhampton will test new ways to reform every part of the children’s social care system - helping children to stay with their families in safe and loving homes, whilst protecting vulnerable children where needed. The programme aims to ensure that early help and intervention is available for families with challenges such as addiction, domestic abuse, or poor mental health, to help them overcome adversity and stay together where possible, and to identify when to intervene to protect a vulnerable child when needed.
Stuart has welcomed the pilot, which is a key part of the Government’s ambitious and wide-ranging children’s social care implementation strategy, ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, published on 2 February 2023. Stuart said that the programme will transform the current system, focusing on more early support for families, reducing the need for crisis response at a later stage. Funded by £45 million collectively, the programmes will help to develop the best practice models for the entire children’s social care system that can then be rolled out across the country.
The pathfinder will test delivery of key strategy commitments in ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, responding to the recommendations which were made in the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, led by Josh MacAlister, the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s review into the tragic deaths of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson, and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) review. The findings revealed that the current care system is often fragmented, siloed, and struggling to meet the needs of children and families across England.
The local areas will work to deliver support to families based on three principles which include: delivering family help through local multi-disciplinary teams working with partners to provide welcoming and effective support, tailored to the needs of children and families; where child protection is necessary, it is carried out by social workers with greater expertise and experience, and time to dedicate to the family and child; and greater use of family networks, involving the wider family in decision-making and with them being the first port of call if the child does have to leave the family home.
Children, Families and Wellbeing Minister, Claire Coutinho, said: “We committed earlier this year to deliver wide-ranging reforms that put strong relationships at the heart of the children’s social care system, to make sure children in care receive the same love and stability as everyone else... We take a step closer to achieving just that, thanks to the ambition these areas are showing for the life chances of their most vulnerable children. The programme they are running will inform future reform across England to give every child the best possible chance to grow up in their family, delivering on the Prime Minister’s ambition to support families across the country.”
Stuart Anderson MP said: “As a parent, I want to ensure that all children get the very best start in life. That’s why I am delighted that Wolverhampton has been chosen as one of the first areas to co-design and deliver end to end service reform of early help services for families with challenges such as addiction, domestic abuse, and poor mental health. Worth £45 million over the next two years, this programme will have a transformative impact, helping struggling families to overcome key obstacles at an earlier stage, whilst protecting vulnerable children where needed with access to social workers with greater expertise and experience as well as dedicated and skilled multi-agency input.”