6 Multi-agency practice

The work of family centres builds on the premise that targeting early support for families facing difficulties provides opportunities for parents and carers to deal with life’s challenges. In the next activity you will explore in more detail the range of services that are available at family centres such as Hedgerows and the range of professionals involved in delivering them.

Activity 6 Services working together

Allow about 45 minutes

Task 1

Watch the following video, ‘Hedgerows Family Centre’, which introduces the broader work of the centre. As you watch, try to identify the different services available for children, families and young people that Hedgerows provide, as you’ll be asked to make a note of them for the next task.

Note: the ‘EYFS’ mentioned in the video refers to the ‘Early Years Foundation Stage’, which is a statutory framework in England.

Hedgerows Family Centre

Transcript

Task 2

Use the following table to record the different services available for children, families and young people at Hedgerows.

Table 1 Services available at Hedgerows

Service users	Services
Families	(A text entry box would appear here, but your browser does not support it.)
Children	(A text entry box would appear here, but your browser does not support it.)
Young people	(A text entry box would appear here, but your browser does not support it.)

Interactive feature not available in single page view.

Discussion

Many of the services and professionals available for children, young people and families at Hedgerows are summed up in the completed table below (you may have identified others).

Table 1 Services available at Hedgerows (completed)

Service users	Services
Families	Health visitors Parenting sessions Midwives – baby clinics Employment counsellors Citizens Advice Bureau Domestic violence counsellors Community debt counsellors Art therapy Mental health practitioners and organisations such as Mind
Children	Early years professionals Play therapy Parent and toddler sessions
Young people	Youth partners Community practitioners Leaving care group Group for unaccompanied minors

The focus on multi-agency practice is an important theme. As a family centre, Hedgerows is a multi-agency setting that works with different service providers spanning health, education, care and legal services. This provides for infants, children, young people and their families (even grandparents). Furthermore, Hedgerows provides support for children and young people in care as well as unaccompanied minors seeking refuge in the UK.