Families First
Families First is a local group of different services working together to help families. It is funded by the Welsh Government. They are there to make sure families receive the right support when they need it. Flintshire County Council oversees the Families First grant.
All the organisations that provide Families First services look at the strengths of families and ask what matters to them as a family. The aim is to help in the ways the family want, and to empower families as they go through any life struggles.
Families First is designed to help children, young people, and families together. It works by providing support for whole families, rather than just individuals.
The different services are based on three themes:
- Parenting
- Disability
- Young People
Working together the services can support you with all types of issues, support needs, information, advice, and guidance.
How Families First Works
Families First services are available for all families. The type of help you could get depends on your family’s specific needs. You can ask a professional to make a referral for you or you can refer yourself. To do this call 01352 701000 and request Information, Advice and Assistance (IAA) service.
We can help with:
- Talking to you and assessing the needs of your family and putting together a support plan to meet these needs – we call this a What Matters Conversation. You are in charge of what you want to share and what support you feel you need.
- Coordinating support from different services – we can ensure you don’t have to work with lots of different organisations to make appointments and tell your story more than once.
- Arranging support if someone in your family has a disability – this can be a child or their parent
- Advising on specific projects that can help your family’s specific needs.
This is some information on who is part of Families First.
Parenting Theme
The Flintshire Parenting Framework and coordination supports services in their work with parents. The service offers advice in relation to Welsh Government guidance and research, offers qualifications and training for professionals, and brings together groups of professionals to keep positive parenting at the heart of all work across Flintshire. The service also provides a link to National and regional plans and strategies.
Y Teulu Cyfan are a home-based support team working together with families to tackle issues faced in parenting and family life. Specific pieces of work are carried out with families fully in control of the pace. Using child development models and informal/formal parenting courses and strategies the aim is to build confidence in families, tackle issues, reduce isolation and promote positive family experiences in line with the Welsh Government Guidance for Families First.
Family Group Meetings
Family Group Meetings are a process that brings together families and children to work together to identify their views and needs and discuss with the whole family a way to address and meet these difficulties together. The aim is to empower families and put them in control of their own solutions as well as working towards a joined-up approach to the resolving difficulties. This in turn improves the wellbeing of families.
Visit the Parenting. Give it time. website.
Parenting. Give it time. - balancing screen time
Parenting. Give it time. - routines
Top Tips - Screen Time from Y Teulu Cyfan
Home-Start is a national charity with a local Flintshire community network of trained volunteers who can provide expert support to help families with young children (under 11) through their challenging times.
Home-Start works with families in communities right across the UK. Starting in the home, our approach is as individual as the people we’re helping. No judgement, it is just compassionate, confidential help and expert support.
Home-Start volunteers visit families at home each week, supporting parents experiencing many situations including, isolation, bereavement, multiple births, illness, disability and when families are finding parenting a bit of a struggle. The aim is to provide practical, non-judgemental support and to build a family’s confidence and ability to cope with life’s challenges.
Last year Home-Start supported 56,000 children in 27,000 families, in communities across the UK.
Visit the Home-Start website
Daffodils is a local parent led, self-help group for physically and mentally disabled children and their immediate families. Daffodils caters for all disabilities and provides social events, peer support and access to services. The activities run across the whole of Flintshire and are aimed at encouraging sibling involvement, reducing isolation, and encouraging family friendships.
Find out more about Daffodils on the Holywell Leisure Centre website
Advance Brighter Futures are an award-winning mental health and wellbeing charity, first established in Wrexham in 1992, and now offering support across Flintshire.
Advance Brighter Futures’ approach to personal wellbeing is the process of building a meaningful and satisfying life as defined by the individual. They understand that being a parent can be tough. Advance Brighter Futures are a very hands-on charity and retain a lot of people who have benefitted from services as volunteers. The charity values and utilises the diverse life experience, skills and time of its members, trustees, staff, and volunteers.
Advance Brighter Futures offer:
Group sessions: A Parent's Guide to...
Available for parents and carers living in Flintshire responsibility for a child under the age of 18. Our 'A Parent's Guide to...' is a mix of single sessions and short courses which have been designed to help you through the challenges of parenthood. Learn practical skills and tools to help to improve your ability to cope and enjoy better relationships.
Cost: FREE
Please register before attending on the Advance Brighter Futures website
Weekly ‘Walk and Talk’ Parents Support Group
An opportunity to meet and discuss all things related to parenthood with other parents and carers who ‘just get it’. Currently based at the Greenfield Valley Heritage Park. Join us for a walk and treat yourself to a fabulous coffee afterwards at the Café.
Tuesdays 10:00 to 11:30am
Greenfield Heritage Park | Greenfield Road | Holywell | CH8 7GH (Meet outside Blooms Café)
Cost: FREE
Please register before attending on the Advance Brighter Futures website
Weekly “Chat and Play” Session
A chance for you to grab a cuppa, have a chat with our friendly ABF team, and meet other like-minded parents and families who just ‘get it’ - all whilst your little ones enjoy a fun morning of play! This support group is suitable for parents and families with little ones aged 0 - 4 years.
Mondays | 9:30am - 11:30am
Infunity Soft Play Centre | Unit 1 Queens Lane | Bromfield Lane Industrial Estate | Mold | Flintshire CH7 1XB
Cost: FREE
Please register before attending on the Advance Brighter Futures website
We have Counselling Students on placement who can offer 1 to 1 Therapeutic intervention to adults who have experienced their own difficulties or trauma which is affecting their ability to parent their children appropriately.
We also offer a bespoke Intervention for families where a Parenting Programme has been completed and assessment indicates further Intervention around communication is needed to prevent family breakdown.
Visit the Action For Children website
Disability Theme
Flintshire Families Disabilities Service (FFDS) at Action for Children provides opportunities and builds links to enable social interaction, get people out in the community and develop life skills.
This is a short-term service who support disabled children, young people and families based on their needs and choices.
Our promise to you is to discover what is important to your family and deliver support and useful strategies to help overcome any barriers and achieve your goals over a 6 to 12-week period.
We use a variety of methods to deliver our support from face-to-face sessions at home and in the community, Microsoft Teams virtual session and our inclusive clubs for all ages and abilities.
Flintshire Family Disability Service
Our promise to you is to discover what is important to your family and deliver 1:1 support and useful strategies to help overcome any barriers and achieve your goals over a 6-to-12-week period.
Our Young People have the opportunity to attend social clubs and groups with peers and experienced Support Workers.
Action for Children - Flintshire Families Disabilities Service
STAND North Wales CIC is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company that supports families with children and young people with speech, language communication needs, additional needs, and disabilities in North Wales. STAND is a parent-led organisation and offers parent support groups, listening ear request phone calls, training, family and activity days, Online Youth group, Early Years programmes and more.
Visit the STAND North Wales website
NEWCIS Young Carers support all young carers under 25 in Flintshire including any with a disability. NEWCIS Young Carers provides support by:
- Offering support, advice, and information
- Holding ‘What matters conversations’ allowing NEWCIS to assess Young Carer needs and find out what’s most important to them
- Peer and community support, including young carer groups and peer support scheme
- Regular updates via quarterly newsletter and social media channels
- One to one support and signposting
- Activities, trips, and social opportunities
- Engaging young carers in informing service development and community initiative
- Time off from caring roles, grants, and counselling
Visit the NEWCIS website
Brokerage
Brokerage is part of Early Years and Family Support within Flintshire County Council, and the funding is used to part fund a Childcare Brokerage Officer (CBO) – observing the needs of young children and offering tailored advice and guidance to support both the child and childcare settings. The CBO offers a variety of support at meetings and to settings and their work includes:
- Attending weekly funding delegation panels (supporting decisions made in relation to the Childcare and Play grant allocations)
- Statement writing
- Placement review meetings with the childcare team
The CBO will also offer parents with disabled children an accessible signposting route to other organisations.
Additional Funded Support Grant and Equipment / Resources / Training Grant 2022 - 2023
Young People Theme
Action for Children have been successful in achieving positive outcomes for Flintshire’s children, young people and families with complex needs since 1997 through the Flintshire Family Project.
The service contributes to a package of support designed to address recurring problems or patterns of behaviour that are harmful to children, young people and families wellbeing.
Flintshire Family Project provides a bespoke service to young people aged 11 to 25 and families with packages of Therapeutic Interventions designed to increase resilience and wellbeing.
The service promotes positive relationships between parents /carers and their children. Key staff will support families with specialist Therapeutic Interventions this could be 1 :1 family or group work and can also offer Individual Counselling for parents through their student Counsellors on placement.
Families and young people have been supported with for example prevention of family breakdown, childhood abuse, parental incarceration, domestic abuse, challenging behaviour, stress /anxiety bullying and bereavement.
Visit the Action For Children website
FLVC is the umbrella and support organisation for over 1200 voluntary and community groups based in Flintshire, providing support on all aspects of setting up and running a community group or voluntary organisation, including funding advice, help with constitutions, registering with the charity commission, recruiting and managing volunteers and a whole range of other topics.
FLVC develops partnerships with voluntary and statutory organisations in Flintshire and works in collaboration with other agencies to develop projects in response to community needs.
The Volunteer Centre at FLVC offers a programme for young people to try out some volunteering and, if they want to, gain a qualification through their volunteering. Upon completion of a workbook, young volunteers are awarded with a certificate for Level 1 Voluntary Work Skills Accredited Course
The programme is free to people:
- Aged 14 and over
- With no experience of volunteering
- Who have volunteered before and would like to try something else
- Who would like to volunteer but aren’t sure how to start
For more information about volunteering in general and about this project, please visit our website: Volunteering (flvc.org.uk)
Flintshire Youth Service are part of Flintshire County Council’s Education and Youth portfolio. One of their projects funded by Families First is the Flintshire County Council Resilience project.
The Youth Service work is underpinned by the five pillars of Youth Work:
- Young people are thriving.
- Youth work is accessible and inclusive.
- Voluntary and paid professional youth work staff are supported throughout their careers to improve their practice.
- Youth work is valued and understood.
- A sustainable model for youth work delivery.
Working with young people 16-25 in Flintshire, Resilience offers an individual package of assistance to help improve confidence and wellbeing. Initially meeting with young people at home with the support of a parent or carer, then working with the young person on a one-to-one basis, with a view to and them joining a small social group. The project provides a safe, confidential environment to improve Resilience and supports young people until they have achieved their chosen outcomes.
The project offers young people a bespoke package of assistance mentoring and supporting them in a variety of ways. (From helping to obtain and paint a new flat, to job searches and lifts to interviews.) This bespoke offer ensures that young people gain the best outcomes from the service.
Tel: 07769303546
Email: resilienceteam@flintshire.gov.uk
NEWCIS Young Carers support all young carers under 25 in Flintshire including any with a disability. NEWCIS Young Carers provides support by:
- Offering support, advice, and information
- Holding ‘What matters conversations’ allowing NEWCIS to assess Young Carer needs and find out what’s most important to them
- Peer and community support, including young carer groups and peer support scheme
- Regular updates via quarterly newsletter and social media channels
- One to one support and signposting
- Activities, trips, and social opportunities
- Engaging young carers in informing service development and community initiative
- Time off from caring roles, grants, and counselling
Visit the NEWCIS website
Early Years and Family Support (Age 0-5) - Brokerage
Action For Children Flintshire Families Disabilities Service (FFDS) - Youth Shed
Flintshire County Council Resilience Project