A new family hub has opened in Penzance to provide parents and carers with a range of vital support under one roof.
It is based in St John’s Hall, taking up the entire ground floor alongside the library, which has moved its children’s reading section to sit next to the hub.
Cornwall now has 23 family hubs delivering child and family services from pre-birth to 19 years, or up to 25 years for young adults with additional needs.
They are designed to be a ‘one stop shop’ for families, offering everything from general parenting advice and infant feeding support to antenatal and mental health support.
The hubs also bring together wider services such as advice on getting into work, relationship building and stop smoking services.
The new hub in Penzance has a range of rooms offering spaces for group work and activities as well as one-on-one sessions. It replaces the much smaller hub, based on Alverton Street.
Cllr Barbara Ellenbroek, cabinet members for children and families, said:
“It’s great news that families in Penzance now have this brilliant new facility. We all know that children bring a huge amount of joy to our lives but having a family can also be really tough and occasionally all parents and carers need a helping hand. Family hubs bring services together helping parents, carers, children and young people to access the support they need more easily. This can be anything from support with breast feeding and mental health to guidance on how to give children a head start on their learning. I’m extremely proud that Cornwall is leading the way in early years help and continues to be a brilliant place to be a child and grow up.”
The launch of the new hub in Penzance comes after Cornwall was chosen as a national ‘trailblazer’ to lead the way in offering support to parents, carers and children through its network of family hubs.
Ben Davies, service director for children and family services at Cornwall Council, said:
“I’m delighted that we’ve been able to fund and create a new family hub for parents and carers in the heart of Penzance and I’m sure it will prove to be a huge asset for the town. Our whole approach to helping families in Cornwall is based on Early Help - helping more families earlier, and more effectively. Family hubs are a huge part of that, providing families with easy access, close to where they live, to a wide range of education, health and social care services so that they get the right support at the right time as their babies and children grow up. We have some brilliant practitioners who are transforming children’s lives across Cornwall and I am extremely proud of the work they are doing.”
For more information on family hubs in Cornwall check out the Start for Life web pages on the council's website.