Families First in Sandwell – Moving on to phase two
Throughout 2026 we have been working to embed the government required Families First Partnership Programme alongside our partners supporting children and families in Sandwell.
We have completed the first phase of our test and learn approach to introducing the new ways of working in Family Help (local multi-agency teams that respond to the needs of babies, children and young people at the earliest opportunity) by bringing together our Strengthening Families and Assessment and Intervention teams in Oldbury. Bringing the two teams together creates seamless support, leading to stronger, trusted relationships between professionals and families.
Our team have already told us that they are embracing this new way of working, building stronger connections across services such as health, police and children’s services; and creating more opportunities to work alongside families and communities. They are looking forward to further developing these relationships.
Now, we have moved into Phase 2, which sees us bringing teams in Tipton and Rowley into the programme.
This means half of our six Sandwell towns are working in this new, child-focused way.
In the second phase we are continuing to test out our new Family Help model, with the ultimate goal of helping families sooner before problems grow and keeping more children safely with their families where possible.
There are three strands to our work in Families First:
- A new Family Help model: Local multi-agency teams that respond to the needs of babies, children and young people at the earliest opportunity.
- Multi-Agency Child Protection: Professionals from various organisations working collaboratively to identify, assess, and respond to potential risks to children, ensuring their safety and wellbeing.
- Family Group Decision Making: Empowering families to actively participate in decisions that affect them, particularly in situations involving child welfare or other sensitive family matters. This includes Kinship planning.
The reforms must be implemented by April 2027 and we are on track to have introduced them in all six towns in Sandwell by this time.
If you’d like to find out more about Families First in Sandwell, the three strands to our work or participate in co-production opportunities get in touch: ffp@sandwellchildrenstrust.org
Further information:
Families First is the most significant overhaul of children’s social care in a generation. These reforms aim to shift the system much more towards earlier interventions, so all children and families receive the right support at the right time and fewer children need to come into our care. For those children who need to be in our care, the reforms also place greater emphasis on kinship care and improving outcomes for care-experienced young people.
The expectation is that by bringing together targeted early help and children in need services, families can receive a more integrated and locally responsive support that help prevent them entering the child protection system.
