With the launch of the new Channel 4 programme Kids tomorrow, parents and families in the city are being reminded that the Family Hubs are there to offer support and guidance.
Channel 4 is showing a three part series focusing on the issues facing everyone involved in the care system in Coventry and to show the struggles and the triumphs of those in care.
It is a close-up look at teenagers and their families in the care system in Coventry – and those working to help and support them.
The first episode – to be screened on 10 May - introduces Xorin, who, after being exploited as a young teen, is returning home to Coventry from a children’s home in Wales to rebuild his life with mum Kelly.
It also episode also introduces 19-year-old Annabelle, who is pregnant and determined to break the cycle of care that meant her being removed from her parents at the age of five.
The series will touch on issues that affect many families, and people are being reminded that help is at hand. Watch the trailer - https://youtu.be/0JTQq2191Sw
Coventry has eight Family hubs that are open across the city to provide help, advice and support to all families (with children aged 0-19 ) living in Coventry.
These are places where children, young people can go to access a range of services to help them in their family life, and to meet people that can help them. They are open Monday – Friday and some Saturday mornings for specific sessions for children with additional needs.
The Hub buildings host a range of services and professionals to help families including health visitors, midwifes, debt and welfare advisors, housing support advisers and family support workers. Each hub has a range of facilities including sensory rooms for babies and young children to enjoy or for children with SEN.
Many have safe outdoor garden spaces to play in, kitchen and laundry facilities for families to use who may be in need, and food pantries, and public access computers. They also give out food bank vouchers, free sim cards for those experiencing digital exclusion, toiletries and other items that families may need.
The Family Hubs deliver a range of activities including Baby and Me groups for parents with very young children, Stay Together, Play together sessions for those with preschool children, parenting programmes, Healthy wellbeing clinics for children and adults, and youth sessions. They also run a range of exciting events and activities in the holidays for whole family activities and for anyone to come in and find out what is on offer.
Family Hub practitioners also work in the community delivering activities alongside others in other venues to help get help to as many families as possible and can help families who need extra help and support to get the right help at the right time by the right people. Each Family Hub also has a Facebook page and there is also a virtual hub which provides digital information to anyone who wants to find out more.
Feedback from families to use the Hibs includes:
- ‘I was happy with the support and did not feel judged in any way’
- ‘They have gone far to help to resolve all the problems and have helped us to build a family union again’
- ‘I’ve started to come to Youth Club and it’s the best!’
- ‘We are very grateful for all the help we have received and all the problems that you helped us to resolve’
- ‘I like them talking to me and it wasn’t difficult’
- ‘My worker is very easy to talk to with a positive outlook and my girls are very at ease with her.’
- ‘What I liked about the session I attended at the Hub was that everything was amazing!’
- ‘My children and I had lots of fun’
- ‘We love it at the hub and really enjoyed the group’
- ‘Very good day, enough to do, nice staff’
- ‘Very nice time for kids’
- ‘My kids enjoyed all activities’
Packed with drama and humour, the series gets up close and personal with six remarkable teenagers - and their families – in Coventry, as they enter a crucial year in their lives and prepare to leave the care system.
In other episodes, viewers will meet Byron and Bayley as they negotiate living on their own for the first time as they leave the security and support of their carers. And we join 16-year-old Havana as she takes on her first tenancy and has big questions she wants answered; she has never known her dad and now hopes to find him.
Also, after multiple placements, Kane returns to live near his mum but he wants to fully understand the reasons why he was removed as a young child and asks his social worker for access to his case files.
The show airs on 10, 17 and 24 May and is also available on All4