Family Support and Play Service
We are working in Partnership with Southside delivering this early help Family Support and play Service
This work has developed from the B&NES Play Service and now covers the whole of Bath & North East Somerset.
Family Play Partnerships Evaluation and Impact Report November 2016
Prepared by the Foundation for Social Improvement (FSI)
"Our relationship has greatly improved; I have more understanding of her behaviour and why she does it. I just let her come to us, rather than pushing her" Parent Family Play support records.
Click on image for report.
The service provides targeted support and early help to vulnerable families with children aged 5-19 years. It works alongside Children’s Centre services and Connecting Families to deliver a co-ordinated early help offer in B&NES.
Led by our Play Service Manager and Early Help Team Leader, the staff team works with families with children aged 5 to 19 years, supporting the whole family to make positive changes that will improve confidence & resilience using whole family support and play as a process of engagement and support to develop stronger family bonds.
Some of the services we offer: Free Nurture groups in schools, Family Play Hubs and 1-1 support to young people and their families. See below for more details or contact our Play Service Manager or Early Help Team Leader.
How to refer for the Family Play & Support Service
The service has a Single Point of Entry on a Referral Form all of which will go to Southside with the exception of applications for School Nurture Groups. The telephone number for enquiries is (01225) 331243 For enquiries about Nurture Groups and Family Play Hubs, please contact the Play Service Manager (01225) 832479
Anyone working with a family or the family themselves can make a referral for support. You will first need to make sure that the family or you meet the criteria on the checklist. Once the Referral form is received, a member of the team will get in touch to have a conversation and chat through the referral.
All referrals go to a fortnightly Partnership Allocation Meeting where, when there is capacity, the family will be allocated to a worker or a particular service.
Family Support & Play Referral Pathway
BAPP has two Family Play Support Workers who will each support a number of families for around 4 - 6 months providing Intensive family play support to embed strategies and support and build confidence with jointly agreed outcomes using the family partnership model. Work will be closely linked with other agency work supporting positive change for the family.
BAPP provides support for children and young people in schools through FREE Nurture Groups to enable them to, develop social networks with peers and develop confidence. Each group has 3 Community Play Support Workers for a 10 – 12 week term. The schools identify children that they feel will benefit from a secure and nurturing group each week as part of their school day
BAPP also work with Southside facilitating Family Play Hubs. Staffed by Community Play Support Workers and Southside Practitioners, these hubs provide a weekly safe and non-judgemental group where families can access support, encouragement, and the opportunity to enjoy playing together with their children and other families.
A home visit is completed for every referral so that the Family Support & Play Service can build a clear picture based on the issues the family and child think are important and steps are agreed to work towards improving outcomes for children and the whole family. An Action Plan is agreed and forms the basis and focus for the support, working together to make sustainable positive changes.
We work not just with the child but with the whole family as this ensures that the family and child agree the outcomes together and supports increased understanding of the value and role of each family member has as well as the role of the family in the child’s life.
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