The latest news
Check out Hertfordshire's Spring 25 Parenting and Relationship Courses
Please download the latest Parenting and Relationship Support Offer Newsletter which will provide you with information and details on Parenting Courses and Relationship Support offer. Please can you ensure you cascade to your teams. If you have any questions please email CSStrategic.Partnerships@hertfordshire.gov.uk .
We have listed a few of the current courses below, but please visit the Hertfordshire Directory for the full listing.
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Upcoming Parenting When Separated course at the Otley Family Centre Watford is now taking referrals.
Parenting When Separated: A 6-week group based course for separated parents that focuses on the emotional impact of separation and supporting communication between co-parents.
This course is available to all Hertfordshire parents and carers for free.
Upcoming course date:
Face to Face course at The Otley Family Centre, Otley Way, WD19 7TB
Every Friday between 7 Mar - 11 Apr 2025, 10am – 1pm
Parenting When Separated Referral Form
Family Lives have a course coming up for parents of children with SEND to support co-parenting skills and child development.
The course is free for all Hertfordshire parents and carers.
Who should attend?
Separated or separating parents of neurodiverse children seeking guidance, support, and strategies for co-parenting more consistently.
About the course
A free 6-session course developed by Family Lives and delivered online via Microsoft Teams.
- Every Monday between 24 Feb - 31 Mar 2025, 7pm - 9pm
- Every Tuesday between 25 Feb - 1 Apr 2025, 9.30am - 11.30am
How to register
Complete a Family Lives referral form if you're a parent of a SEN child or a professional referring someone you know.
Alternatively, get in touch via:
Email: services@familylives.org.uk
Phone: 0204 522 8700 or 0204 522 8699
White goods initiative for residents in need
We're funding a 'white goods' initiative for those most in need across the county. If during your day to day duties you are working with people in need of white goods, such as fridges, freezers, washing machines or even bedding, you can refer them to the Hospital Community Navigation Service initiative. Referrals can only be made by professionals, and we want colleagues supporting people who may be facing financial hardships to know this resource exists. Each referral will be assigned a community navigator who will assess the claim. Please share with colleagues and partner organisations who work directly with residents, such as social workers and occupational therapists
Prevent Awareness Training for Venue Hire Staff - 2025
You are invited to attend the Prevent Awareness Training for Venue Hire Staff in light of the requirement to ‘reduce permissive environments’ under the revised Prevent Duty Guidance.
Prevent is at the heart of safeguarding children and adults. It aims to provide early intervention to protect and divert people away from being drawn into terrorist activity. One way that Prevent seeks to tackle the ideological causes of terrorism is by limiting exposure to radicalising narratives, both online and offline, and create an environment where radicalising ideologies are challenged and are not permitted to flourish. All venues run by authorities covered by the Prevent Duty are expected to have measures in place to ensure their facilities are not exploited by radicalisers. This includes making proportionate checks on anyone who wishes to hire one of our venues, or any speakers we are inviting to events, to ensure they are not doing so in support of any extremist ideology.
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This session is aimed at staff who are responsible for taking bookings for venues/rooms or who regularly book speakers and works alongside the guidance issued within your local area and your own venue hire policy. This includes staff from:
- Local Authorities
- Town & Parish Councils
- Voluntary / Community Sector organisations
- Educational establishments
This session is open to staff from across Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk County Council areas.
Please note that this is open to the community sector but is not open to staff from private companies.
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The session will cover:
- Background – An overview of CONTEST, The Prevent Duty, requirements for relevant authorities under the ‘Reducing Permissive Environments’ part of the Duty and why it is important for your organisation.
- Ask, Check, Decide – They key principles to follow when hiring your venue / arranging a speaker, questions to ask and the information to gather before making a decision.
This will be an interactive session with a chance to practice carrying out due diligence checks with some scenario exercises. To make the most of this session you will need to be signed into a device that enables you to make internet searches at the same time as joining the MS Teams session. You may also find it helpful to have a pen and notebook handy.
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There are sessions available on:
- Monday 24th March || 15:00-16:00
- Friday 25th April || 11:00-12:00
- Tuesday 20th May || 10:00-11:00
All sessions are held via MS Teams and calendar invite with the joining link will be sent to you upon registration.
You can register onto one of the sessions via our registration form. QR code:
You can also use this form to tell us about any accessibility needs ahead of the session.
If you have any questions, please contact prevent@hertfordshire.gov.uk
The Hertfordshire Directory – tell us what you think
We’re improving and re-imagining the Hertfordshire Directory and we need your help.
The Directory already lists a wealth of services for children, young people and adults, as well as people with needs and disabilities, but we want to make it more comprehensive and easier to use, helping to meet user needs, prevent problems and support residents to live life to the full.
If you are a professional (either commissioning services or directly supporting people), please complete our short survey and tell us what you need to make the Directory work for you.
Please also pass it on to colleagues or people you support so we get as much feedback as possible.
If you’d like to know more or want the survey in a different format, please email anne.ardley@hertfordshire.gov.uk
Thank you!
Carers Strategy Refresh Survey
Hertfordshire County Council are working with partners to update the Hertfordshire Carers Strategy which sets out our priorities for supporting unpaid carers. We want to hear from people who work with unpaid carers about the issues you come across and what you think would help. Please help us by answering two questions short questions via the Carers Strategy Refresh Survey. We will be doing more engagement, including with unpaid carers themselves, as we develop the strategy this year.
Professionals damp and mould in the home e-booklet
The Environmental Health/ Housing Department teams have co-produced a damp and mould in the home professionals e-booklet for professionals with:
- Advice about the health risks associated with and factors influencing damp and mould in the home,
- An introduction into Hertfordshire’s Environmental Health and Housing Department teams,
- A risk scale for helping to identifying damp and mould severity,
- The Hertfordshire damp and mould referral pathway
- Signposting and referral details
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Understanding Trauma' Programme for Parents in Herts whose children have experienced sexual abuse
Trauma Recovery CIC's Butterflies Community are able to offer a funded 6 session Understanding Trauma Programme for Parents in Herts whose children have experienced sexual abuse, with the option of joining a peer support group after.
It's a free, psychoeducational programme that offers an opportunity for parents to become empowered by understanding their child's trauma, and become equipped with tools and support to aid their child's and their own healing - see full info in attached flyer below (Parents group Feb 25 info)
- First session is 28th February 2025 (online)
- Parents/Carers self refer via the link on the attached information flyer (Parents group Feb 25 info)
Please disseminate the Parents group flyer to appropriate teams and Colleagues to share with parents /carers that may want to access the support.
I've also taken the opportunity to provide Trauma Recovery CIC's brochure detailing who we are and the work we do.
Using Sport to Provide Safe Spaces for Young People - webinar invite
Sport is increasingly playing a valuable role in providing young people with access to a physically safe space in their own local community and an emotionally safe space when supervised by sport practitioners as trusted adults.
You are invited to attend a webinar which will provide academic insight for policymakers and practitioners about the role of sport as a safe space for vulnerable young people. It will cover the following important areas:
- The importance of safe spaces for young people that go beyond physical safety.
- Young people’s views of a space as being safe or unsafe
- The features of a safe space for young people and strategies for creating safe spaces.
- The role of sport for creating a safe space and the benefits that it can provide for young people.
- The use of the public health approach in identifying the role that different types of sport programmes and interventions can play in providing a safe space.
- The importance of contextual safeguarding
This webinar will be delivered by Dr Caron Walpole, Loughborough University and Graham Helm, StreetGames, on:-
When: Thursday 13th March 2025
Time: 10am-11:30am
Where: Online via Teams
Attendees will also receive a newly published literature review to accompany this webinar.
To register a place, please click: Safe Spaces in Sport Webinar
Empower groups within your community with the tools to improve their health and change lives
The Living Well Course has been designed by a team of certified Lifestyle Medicine doctors. It helps people improve their health and reduce their risk of lifelong problems, such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease and mental health issues.
Following successful pilots amongst groups of both patients and health care professionals we are now pleased to be able to roll out the Living Well Course Training Programme across Herts and West Essex.
If you work for a voluntary organisation, charity, social enterprise or faith-based group we have designed this free programme for you… because you don’t need to be a doctor to practise Lifestyle Medicine!
OK, tell me more.
What’s the time commitment?
The Living Well Course Training programme consists of 4 online, live and interactive evening sessions (60-90 mins), followed by an in-person training day. These will be on the 2nd and 23rd April at different venues across Herts and West Essex. You will be able to choose which one you attend (capacity permitting)
How much is it?
The course is free to attend, funded through a grant from Assura plc.
Sounds great, what’s the catch?
There is no catch! All we ask is that after completing the training, you plan and deliver your own courses for the organisation that you work for.
So what do I do now? Watch this short video to learn more about the course.
There is already high demand for places. To avoid disappointment and reserve your place, use this link
Help Children, Young People, and Families share their views
Extended Deadline Sunday 16 March
The Plan for Children and Young People outlines Hertfordshire County Council’s Vision, Ambitions, Outcomes Framework and Performance Measures for its services for children and young people. Hertfordshire County Council’s current plan for 2021-26 sets out our vision to support children and young people to be happy, feel loved and thrive in their family and community. We are working on a new Plan for 2026-31 and would like to know what is important to include.
Please encourage the children, young people and families you work with to complete the survey.
The specific survey for professionals is also available online.
We also invite you to attend a focus group on Wednesday 12 March from 12:00pm noon – 13:00pm to discuss the Outcome Bees, outcomes for children, young people and families and how they are reflected in the Plan.
Please email p&d.team@hertfordshire.gov.uk if you are interested in attending.
Update from Home-Start Watford, Three Rivers & Hertsmere
Do you work with or know a family with at least one child under 5 who might benefit from some extra support to help them be the best parent they can be? Or perhaps you’re working with someone who could use a bit of assistance in navigating their parenting journey?
We are reaching out to identify families who would appreciate having a caring and experienced volunteer visit them for 2-3 hours each week, offering companionship, emotional support, and practical help.
Here are some examples of how we can assist:
- A parent feeling isolated and hesitant to attend a parent-and-baby group on their own – our volunteer can accompany them, boosting their confidence to meet others.
- A single parent with several young children who feels overwhelmed – our volunteer can provide guidance on routines and help implement strategies to make daily life more manageable.
- A mum or dad struggling with their mental health – our volunteer can offer a listening ear and assist them in accessing the support they need.
We currently have a number of Home-Visiting Volunteers ready to start working with families immediately in Watford, Three Rivers, and Hertsmere.
Referring a family is simple – just complete the referral form on our website (click here), with the family’s consent, and we’ll reach out to them directly. Please provide as much information as you can about the family’s needs, including details about all the children, not just those under 5.
Once a family is supported by a volunteer they are encouraged to attend our Family groups and if appropriate, to be internally referred into our in- house counselling team.
Criteria
- The Family lives in one of the three areas
- Has at least one child under 5
- The family is not on a Child Protection Plan
- It is safe for volunteer to visit (ie; no perpetrator of Domestic abuse living in, or visiting the home)
If you’d like to discuss a potential referral before submitting the form, feel free to contact one of our Coordinators on 01923 248010 who would be happy to chat!
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News from Services for Young People
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New Duke of Edinburgh’s Award projects
Services for Young People (SfYP) has just launched four new Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) projects across Hertfordshire. The new projects are being delivered by qualified SfYP Youth Workers and are specifically for young people who need additional support or would be less likely to access the DofE through traditional routes: those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), young people missing from education, home educated young people, and young people being supported by a social worker.
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By creating an inclusive and supportive environment, the projects will ensure that all participants can benefit from the DofE experience, regardless of their background or abilities.
Get the full details and how young people can join here:
Young people with SEND have their voices heard on social media takeover day
Young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) who attend SfYP youth work projects were supported to share their experiences, creativity and views to contribute to the SEND social media takeover day on 3 December. A wide variety of creative content was shared on several Hertfordshire County Council and Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust social media channels with the theme ‘This is Me’, including drawings, crafts, quotes, and videos which represented young people’s experiences and showed how they are contributing to their communities. The event enabled young people with SEND to get their voices heard and drive change in future service design and delivery.
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St Albans Youth Council supports local foodbank with Christmas boxes
Members of the SfYP St Albans Youth Council came together to make a real difference in their local community by supporting the St Albans and District Foodbank at Verso Vineyard Church. Wanting to provide extra support to people using the foodbank at Christmas, the young people raised money to make Christmas boxes full of toys, essential food, toiletries, festive treats and gifts, all carefully packed and ready to be given to those in most need. Their efforts show the power of social action, and the positive impact young people can have when they come together to help others.
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Spring 25 Online Safety Newsletters
HFL are pleased to share the new Parent and Staff spring term 2025 Online Safety Newsletters. We would be very grateful if you could include them in any newsletters you have going out this term where you feel the content would support staff and parents/carers. Both editions can also be downloaded from the HFL website and the Grid.
Both newsletters feature a range of guidance, news, links and updates about online safety for all phases, with particular reference to the current situation, recent developments and concerns.
Our newsletter for staff includes reviews and details about:
- Safer Internet Day
- WhatsApp Scam
- Experts answering online safety questions
- Online Actions – real world consequences
Our newsletter for parents and carers includes reviews and details about:
- Safer Internet Day
- Guides and toolkits
- Instagram updates
- Roblox Safety Updates
If you’d like any more information please let me know or contact our Wellbeing team at wellbeing@hfleducation.org or visit Online safety in schools | HFL Education
Learning & development
Families First Dates for Your Diary!
There are many ways to stay updated with Families First News, including events, webinars, induction days, and partnership meetings. Discover what’s coming up here
Monthly Families First Keeping in Touch Sessions
These sessions are an informal update on service news, training offers and parenting courses delivered by one of our service managers. Please email familiesfirst.support@hertfordshire.gov..uk if you would like an invitation to join.
13 March 2025, 9-9:30am, via MS Teams
Join a Families First Induction day - ideal for new starters
We host Families First online Induction days 4 times per year, where various early help services give a 20 minute whistle-stop tour of their service and are attended by new internal CS staff and external partners. The next dates are:-
- 2 April 2025
- 25 June 2025
Please email: familiesfirst.support@hertfordshire.gov.uk if you have any questions on the above or would like an invite sent to you.
Families First quarterly district partnership meetings
In addition, many of you are regular attendees at our partnership meetings, which are a great way of keeping up to date with new services, updates and make connections. You can find out more about the groups here and email familiesfirst.support@hertfordshire.gov.uk if you would like to join.
HSCP Learning & Development Programme
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HSCP provide a wide variety of learning programmes and workshops across Hertfordshire to develop skills for safeguarding children, young people and adults. We use this page to give you some quick links through to the HSCP learning programmes:-
Smoke Free Homes training preceding Lullaby Trust Safer Sleep training
We're pleased to be able to advise that due to large numbers, the Smoke Free team are able to offer further training dates for the smoke free homes training, which precedes our ultimate goal - the Safer Sleep training, 10-16 March.
Due to an initial hiccup in the booking system, some applicants also may not have been sent the joining link in time, and we hope this will help to ensure their attendance, if missed before.
Additional dates are
- February 28th - 10:00 – 11:00
- March 5th - 10:30 – 11:30
- March 7th – 11:00 – 12:00
Here’s the registration link with the new dates
Money Advice Unit Training Programme, Spring/Summer 2025
Please find attached the Money Advice Unit Training Programme and booking form for SPRING/SUMMER 2025.
All the courses are free of charge but please note we will only accept bookings from organisations in Hertfordshire. Due to demand, we only allow a maximum of two participants from each organisation per course.
Our courses are done both online and face to face. Please see programme to see which you would prefer to attend.
If you want to book for more than one person, please complete a separate booking form for each person.
Once you return the completed booking form(s) to us, the attendees will receive a booking confirmation email within 5 working days. Please check your junk folder as sometimes our emails go to the junk folder straight away.
You can also download the January 2025 Herts Adviser
My Teen Brain Training for Practitioners
Strategic Partnerships Commissioning (formerly known as Family & Health Services Commissioning) are pleased to announce that there are still some spaces left on the My Teen Brain Online Training course on Thursday 13th February 2025.
This 1-day CPD course, from 10am – 3pm for Hertfordshire practitioners working with parents of teenagers and/or working with teenagers or young people in Hertfordshire. It provides an opportunity to understand teenage brain development and the adolescent developmental process and consider both risk and resilience. It includes ideas and strategies for professionals working with teenagers and their parents to help them cope with challenging feelings and behaviour and to support young people in an emotionally healthy context. The day brings together the latest understanding from neuroscience and developmental psychology and the principles of The Nurturing Programme from Family Links The Centre For Emotional Health.
Please find below the booking link for you to reserve your place on to one of our courses. This training is a very popular course and is beneficial to the all practitioners who work with Hertfordshire children and families. If you are interested in booking on to the , please ensure that you ONLY book on to this course if you have the capacity to attend the training on your preferred day and for the entire duration of the session, which is from 10am – 3pm.
Please see below the links for you to reserve your place.
4th March 2025 - My Teen Brain Online Training | Hertfordshire County Council
20th March 2025 - My Teen Brain Online Training | Hertfordshire County Council
If you would like further information about our courses, please email CSStrategic.Partnerships@hertfordshire.gov.uk
My Baby's Brain training for practitioners
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Do you work with young children or their families? Book your free ‘My Baby’s Brain’ (MBB) courses for January to April 2025…
What? MBB courses introduce the key principals of neuroscience and how they can help parents, children and babies form strong attachments that will encourage healthy development.
Who? These courses are for practitioners who work with children aged 0-3 years old in Hertfordshire.
Where? The MBB courses are delivered on Zoom.
The following upcoming courses are available, book your place now:
- My Baby’s Brain Universal (strand A) – this course is for practitioners providing universal support to all families with young children:
- Tuesday 25th February 2025 at 9.30am-3pm
- Wednesday 2nd April 2025 at 9.30am-3pm
Book your place at: Strand A Registration Link
- My Baby’s Brain Targeted (strand B) – this course is for practitioners providing targeted support for those children and families identified as in need of additional support:
- Tuesday 4th March 2025at 9.30am-3pm
Book your place at: Strand B Registration Link
Email us at ehcommissioning@hertfordshire.gov.uk if you have any questions.
Workforce Shadowing
The vision for Families First training and development is to create a skilled, confident and resilient multi-agency workforce that supports whole family working.
Workforce shadowing provides a great opportunity to find out more about other services, what they do and how they might be able to support you in your work. It also enhances communication across agencies and helps strengthen and develop professional relationships, building local networks.
If you would like to organise a workforce shadowing placement for either yourself or a team member please complete the form on this page stating the service you would like to shadow and the preferred district and we will match you to a shadowing opportunity.
The following services have offered to host shadowing opportunities in either in person or virtually:-
- Citizens Advice (Broxbourne/St Albans/North Herts)
- Childcare provision
- CGL
- Domestic Abuse Support
- Families First Panels Team
- Family Support Service, Family Centre
- Herts Mind Network
- Herts Sports Partnership
- MIND in Mid Herts
- ASB Team, District Council, Three Rivers
- Housing Support, District Council
- Intensive Family Support Team (IFST)
- Local School Partnerships
- Police
- Public Health Nursing
- Schools Early Years Provsion
- Specialist Adolescent Services Hertfordshire (SASH)
- Services for Young People
- Supporting Families Practice Team
Additionally, if you would like to add your service to the above list, again please email us with your contact details, service and district.
Familesfirst.support@hertfordshire.gov.uk
Please take a look at the page, bookmark and share with teams, where appropriate.
Workforce development (hertfordshire.gov.uk)
Difference we're making
Safe Space Volunteers are "Human Angels"
“After Oliver speaks to his mentor Jamie he's like a bubble floating in the air.
We call Jamie our human angel”
Safe Space Mentoring is available to 11-19 year olds across Hertfordshire in year 7 -13 (up to 25 years for those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities). The aim of the Mentoring programme is to equip the young person with the necessary skills to make informed and positive choices in their lives. It is made clear to the young person that mentoring is a positive step and not as a result of them doing anything wrong; mentoring is voluntary.
Read about a recent young carer who was referred to Safe Space mentoring by Carers in Herts in October and started working with his mentor, Jamie in November.
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Families First - Performance Data Report
You may be interested to view our Families First Performance Data report for the period October 2023 - September 2024.
The report looks at Families First Assessments that took place within the period and highlights the presenting needs and outcomes broken down by district along with information about other support for families.
Amazing Feedback worth Celebrating
It's always good to hear positive feedback from a families, below is some lovely feedback sent to our Homelessness Prevention Team
Feedback from a parent, recently supported by Children's Services Homelessness Prevention Team
"You guys are heaven sent! Thank you so much I will be forever grateful, I was told by the Children's father that CS will take the children away, but he was wrong CS are there to help families in tough times, I was going through a very tough time, but you made things seem a little bit easier. Becky, you make me feel like I was talking to my mother, you are very motherly and have a good heart.
It is obvious you put your heart into your work and you are very caring and children sense a good person, Hallie loved you and was comfortable with you she knew you have a good heart!"
Parent, Jan25
Families First Case Studies
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Following on from a programme of Celebrating Excellence in Early Help sessions run in Children’s Services, which aimed to highlight the Families First approach and also included contributions from some of our partners, we are sharing some of the recent case below:
Case Study 1 - Intensive Family Support / Local Borough Council
Scene Setting
The Intensive Family Support team (IFST) began supporting this family of nine in Spring 2021.
As support got underway the third youngest child Tia* was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour and the family are struggling coming to terms with Tia’s diagnosis and her life expectancy of one year. Tia is 11 years old.
On learning of Tia’s prognosis and following discussion with Keech Hospice an Occupational Therapist (OT) appointment was arranged for the family’s home. This assessment identified that the three-bedroom home was not suitable for end-of-life care and was not suitable for adaptation as the access was too narrow and steep for a ramp.
The Family Intervention Worker (FIW) made contact with the local Borough Council’s Aids and Adaptions Team for support.
READ MORE
Case Study 2 - Families First Assessment
Scene Setting
This case study provides some insight into the journey of Fran* and her family. Fran is an eight year old girl who worries about her mum, she knows mum is different when she is with her drinking friends. Fran’s Mum has a diagnosis of unstable personality disorder and has previously used drugs and alcohol as coping strategies, she has been in a cycle of poor mental health and whilst their wider family network have been supporting Fran and her mother they sought out some external support via a Families First Assessment.
READ MORE
Case Study 3 - Employment Adviser/IFST
Scene Setting:
This case study provides some insight into the support provided to Sanz* from one of our Employment Advisers. Our Intensive Family Support Teams include Employment Advisers who provide tailored support in areas such as employability; taking time to understand skills and experiences, any barriers or challenges preventing employment, identification of any training to support employability, preparation of supporting statements and CVs and job search support, including mock interviews.
Our Advisers can also provide guidance on how to navigate the benefits system, including benefit entitlements and claims, as well as how changes in circumstances impact benefits.
They work in parallel with Family Intervention Workers. This case study summarises support given to Sanz, the mother, to support with employability and benefits.
READ MORE
Case Study 4 - Local Schools Partnership
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Case Study 5
This case study follows a mum who suffers from depression and anxiety. She was distrusting of professionals due to a negative experience with Children's Services in another local authority. Dad had recently moved out of the family home so she cares for her three children alone. Read more about the support the family received and the tools mum now takes forward in her parenting skills.
READ MORE
Please share anonymised case studies highlighting how early help and partnership working has provided support to local families with us at familiesfirst.support@hertfordshire.gov.uk. Please ensure you have consent from the family.
Help us promote the Families First Website
Our Families First Website is a great central resource for early help support for families and young people, with links to many services such as mental health support, Services for Young People, SEND Local Offer, parenting courses etc along with a link to the Herts Directory and the Families First professionals area.
We would like to encourage all partner agencies to help us promote the Families First website to parents and carers in Hertfordshire.
Campaign Tools:
Please add the web address to your own website:- https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/microsites/families-first/families-first.aspx
Or use the QR Code for direct link to the Families First homepage:
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Download a QR code
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Download a Families First Logo
Social media
Please follow Families First on Facebook and X (Twitter)
Suggested post
Image to post on your own social media channels, with the suggested text:-
"All families need help and support at some point, please visit the Families First Website to find out about support available in your area". https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/.../families-first.aspx
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Poster:-
Please download our poster and display in your public facing space.
Thank you in advance for your support with this campaign.