Welcoming Families | Transforming Lives

Many thanks to Kids Matter from the Family Hubs Network for all their help and encouragement in putting together the ‘Welcoming Families Transforming Lives’ webinar. Kids Matter provide not only excellent programmes and training but have valuable experience of engaging with communities and local authorities and we encourage attendees to draw on their expertise. 

We engage local churches to use our relational, evidence informed programmes for families of all faiths and none in their communities.  We train peer facilitators from the churches who make long term commitments to support families in communities and in prison across our country. Together, we can build a future where every child in need is raised in a strong family. 

For further resources follow the links: 

https://www.kidsmatter.org.uk/community-link/

Kids Matter Church Leaflet

NICVA have long experience in working with voluntary organisations and local authorities in Northern Ireland. Their particular expertise in faith-based engagement, led by Lynda Gould, is especially helpful.  Many thanks to Lynda for her advice when planning the webinar. 

With over a thousand members - ranging from household name charities to grass roots community groups - we lobby and campaign to advance the interests of the people and communities that our members support. We offer a wide range of practical services, products and support to our members to help them do what they do best - find innovative solutions for social challenges. 

To access our faith-based engagement resources follow the link: 

https://www.nicva.org/resources

Thank you for coming to the webinar and we hope you are inspired. We encourage you to: 

• Sign up to the Family Hubs Network email updates. This comes with no cost or strings attached but enables us to keep you informed. We won’t overwhelm you with emails – we'll simply share relevant news when we have it. 

• Find out about Family Hubs in your area or explore the different types of Family Hubs across the country using the Explore the network and Find a Hub sections of our website 

• Get in touch with us at info@familyhubsnetwork.com to arrange a conversation so that we can give you insight regarding the work to develop Family Hubs in your local area 

• Tell us about your work so we can share it with others and, if you launch a Family Hub, we’d love to profile the work you are doing for families in your community 

We look forward to hearing from you. 

Many thanks to the National Parenting Initiative for their help with promoting the webinar. The NPI is a dynamic infrastructure organisation supporting churches delivering parenting programmes and support across the UK. 

The National Parenting Initiative is a Christian charity with a vision to see churches support and empower families in their community.  We outwork our vision by connecting with churches and signposting to parenting courses and resources, hosting events and filling our website and social media platforms with encouraging and informative content.  We have a podcast, YouTube channel and blog on which we do all we can to equip parents and church leaders on a wide range of topics that affect family life.  Find our upcoming events here, and connect with us directly at office@thenpi.org.uk

For more resources to help engage with families follow the link:

https://www.thenpi.org.uk/Groups/337565/Family_Life_Resources.aspx

Family Hubs Network is very grateful to Jenny Peters, Director at Connected Lives, for her contribution to the webinar, in which she shared some excellent guidance as to how churches and organisations can connect with their local authority to have more of an impact on their community.  

The work of both Connected Lives and St Mary’s Church in Bryanston Square London provide a useful insight into how a church can develop its work in supporting families in their community. Jenny and her colleagues work in partnership with Westminster City Council’s Family Hubs, whose work was represented by Steve Bywater at the webinar. 

At Connected Lives, we believe we were designed to live connected from cradle to grave. Our Vision is to equip and support individuals, churches and other organisations who would like to join us in providing effective support for families and couples. We support healthy, life-changing connections between parents and children, parents and teens and between partners. By providing effective help early on, we promote connection and well-being and prevent relational breakdown. 

Connected Lives is all about helping key relationships thrive. Using evidence-based programmes such as Circle of Security Parenting©, Hold me Tight©, and Created for Connection©, our trained facilitators provide a safe space for people to think about these connections through groups, courses, trainings and one off evening events.

To find out more about how Connected Lives Hubs operate follow the link: 

https://www.connectedlives.org.uk/hubs-1 

Many thanks to Care for the Family for hosting and promoting the webinar. Care for the Family and the Family Hubs Network share a passion for prevention and compassionate family support. We encourage attendees to make use of Care for the Family’s expertise and resources.  

Since 1988, Care for the Family seeks to strengthen family life and help those who face family difficulties. Our work focusses on the UK and the Isle of Man, but increasingly through digital technology, we are reaching a wider audience. 

We work primarily in the following areas of family life: marriage, parenting and bereavement. Our aim is to be accessible to every family whatever their circumstances and to create resources and support that are preventative, evidence-based and easy to apply.

https://www.careforthefamily.org.uk/family-life

Many thanks to Avril McIntyre, Director at Community Resources, for her inspiring presentation at the webinar. Community Resources is playing a pivotal role in developing a culture of partnership-working in local communities, involving community projects, voluntary organisations and local authorities.

http://communityresources.co.uk/

Many thanks to Steve Bywater for giving an insight into the local authority perspective on working in partnership with faith organisations at the webinar. Westminster City Council operates three Family Hubs, which work in partnership with faith organisations, including St Mary’s Bryanston Square, from where Jenny Peters, another speaker at the webinar, runs Connected Lives.

Bessborough Family Hub

Queen's Park Family Hub

Portman North East Family Hub

It was inspiring to have Rachel Dyer, founder of Yeovil4Family, speaking at the webinar about the impact of their work in the community through Yeovil Community Church. Many thanks to Rachel. 

We asked Rachel how South Somerset District Council regarded the work of Yeovil Community  Church, so she asked them and this is what Alice, Specialist Manager in Housing Team, South Somerset District Council, said: 

‘We have worked in close partnership with Yeovil Community Church for over 10 years now. We’ve all learned a lot from each other, but I’d say we’ve learned something deeper from them that we don’t encounter often.  

As a local authority with lots of statutory duties, coupled with never-ending jargon and acronyms, it’s always refreshing to work with Yeovil Community Church who keep people, families and community at the heart of what they do. Their inspiring, independent approach reminds us of what’s important, and to stick to what you believe in. Their faith and commitment enables them to overcome those all-too-familiar bureaucratic hurdles and traditional public sector boundaries which surround our working lives!  

Without Yeovil Community Church we never would have reached the people we’ve been able to reach. People trust them, people open up to them. They welcome them into their homes and lives and they talk to them, like they might never do with ‘someone from the council.’ 

Yeovil4Family was initially a family support project set up in response to the fact that some families in the town community were in need of additional support. Y4F was set up by churches in Yeovil who have a heart to see the tide of family breakdown turn in the town, to see children who are loved and cared for prosper and family relationships that are constructive instead of destructive and damaging. 

Follow the links for more information about Yeovil4Family and how they operate in their community:

Yeovil4Family - Who We Are

Yeovil4Community Gateway Building Walkthrough

http://4family.org.uk/

Thank you to Ian Soars for his role in the webinar. Fegans’ experience in establishing pre-schools which go the extra mile to support the whole family and connect with local authority people and services to this end is enlightening. As Fegans expands its vision to support churches in establishing Family Hubs, we encourage attendees to explore the possibilities. 

Fegans is now part of Spurgeons and together both organisations support families - and work with churches to support families - in many different ways. Links to information about Fegans’ pre-schools as well as links to Spurgeons and Fegans are given below.

Fegans Family Hub Ramsgate

Fegans Family Hub Maidstone

https://www.fegans.org.uk/

https://spurgeons.org/

We at the Family Hubs Network would like to thank Cinnamon Network for their help with promoting the ‘Welcoming Families Transforming Lives’ webinar. We encourage attendees to explore the resources and support that Cinnamon Network offers in helping churches support families in their communities. 

Churches are jam-packed full of potential and Cinnamon can help to release it. Each year we interact with more than 1,000 local churches the length and breadth of the UK and Ireland. We conduct research, provide advice, deliver training courses and help churches start social action projects that transform their communities. 

For resources to support your church or organisation follow the links: 

https://www.cinnamonnetwork.co.uk/church-support/

Cinnamon Network Connect

Rev. Dave Barker from Cheriton Baptist Church shared some wonderful insights during the webinar, providing valuable guidance for any church or organisation seeking to start their own Hub. CBC currently run a Hub in Folkestone, Kent, providing a place to meet with others in the community, a coffee bar and a mums and toddlers group. Many thanks to Dave.

For more information follow the link: 

https://www.cheritonbaptist.co.uk/the-hub