The London Borough of Bexley is working with children, young people, families, the children’s services workforce and partners on new ways of working as part of the Families First programme, introduced within the reforms set out in the Government’s Children’s Social Care Strategy.

Families First is a national programme launched by the Department for Education to support local safeguarding partners to create a more joined up, family focused system that provides the right help at the right time to children and their families.

The programme includes strengthening early intervention, simplifying pathways, reducing duplication and improving outcomes for children.

The Families First Programme will complement our existing best practice, prevention and early intervention offers.

Our offer focuses on prevention through early intervention, aimed at supporting families before issues arise. Our services such as the Family Wellbeing Service, Children’s Centres, Targeted Youth Support, Bexley S.H.I.E.L.D and Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH), which already provide dedicated and tailored support to Bexley’s families, will be bolstered by this new systemic approach.

Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Cllr Chris Taylor said:

Within our Families First Programme, we are aiming to deliver the best outcomes for Bexley’s children and families, further strengthening our early help offer to help families get support early when then need it.

Our Children’s Social Care team are ready to deliver on this goal and I am looking forward to seeing how this programme further supports children in our borough." 

The next stages of the programme will see extensive training and communications workshops and sessions with staff and partners as well as a dedicated webpages with more detail on the programme.