Report and presentation of the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services

The report and presentation provide an overview of the Thriving Babies, Confident Parents Programme.

The Committee considered the report and presentation of the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services which provided an overview of the Thriving Babies, Confident Parents Programme.

Key points and themes in the presentation included:

• Think Family approach;
• Overview of the Thriving Babies programme;
• Impact and evaluation; and
• Next steps.

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• To welcome the excellent work taking place;
• Specialist support for families from ethnic minority communities; and
• The role of housing and homelessness services.

The Assistant Director (Early Intervention and Prevention) reported that the teams working in this area were diverse but that she recognised the Member’s point about specialist support for families from ethnic minority communities and that they would look into this.  She outlined how they worked with the interpreting service, including them in the training and having the same interpreter throughout their work with a family so they had a consistent team around them.  She stated that they had good relationships with the Housing and Homelessness Services, ensuring that homelessness prevention work took a whole family approach and training Early Help practitioners on the duty to notify where there were damp and other housing issues.  She reported that the Thriving Babies, Confident Parents Programme included responding to and addressing some of these housing issues.  Officers outlined some of the pathways now available to respond to housing issues, including a pathway for responding to mould issues.

In response to a Member’s question, the Assistant Director (Early Intervention and Prevention) informed Members about the partnership work with the national voluntary and community organisation HomeStart and with Manchester Mind.  The Team Manager (Early Help) advised that it was hoped that some parents who had been through the Thriving Babies programme would volunteer to help other parents. 

In response to a Member’s question, the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services reported that the Committee would receive a report on fostering at a future meeting and that this would include information on support for families with Special Guardianship Orders.

The Chair reported that the Committee had previously looked at the issue of homeless families and that she had attended a recent meeting of the Communities and Equalities Scrutiny Committee, looking at the issue of homelessness.  She highlighted some of the challenges facing families in Manchester.  She welcomed the work of the Thriving Babies, Confident Parents Programme to support families and enable them to stay together.  She suggested that the universities could measure the outcomes for families over a number of years.  She praised the valuable work of Early Help and Sure Start. 

In response to a question from the Chair about Foetal Alcohol Syndrome, the Team Manager (Early Help) reported that staff and volunteers were trained on this and were educating parents on the risks.  Councillor Cooley stated that she had a contact who was an expert on this subject and could present her experiences to the Committee.  She suggested that the Committee could consider an item on this at a future meeting, to which the Chair agreed.

Decision

To consider an item on Foetal Alcohol Syndrome at a future meeting.