Family Services Manager: Jayne Birbeck

West Exe Children's Centre
Cowick Street
Exeter
EX4 1HL

Tel: 01392 279361
Fax: 01392 423240

Aims of the Service:

To provide an integrated range of safeguarding and educational services for identified children and their families.

To work in partnership with parents / carers, referrers and other agencies, encouraging and empowering families to understand and meet the needs of their children.

To provide targeted services designed around the needs of local families, with resources, facilities and skilled and experienced staff to meet those needs. These families are identified through the Exeter and East Devon Social Services locality panel.

Nursery Unit:

The Nursery unit is an integral part of the Family Centre. It provides Nursery education for 50 local children aged 3 - 5 years. Many of these children have special needs, with a high proportion also receiving a Family Support Service. The Nursery team (teacher & family support worker) work closely with other family centre staff and in partnership with local schools. The unit specialises in working with young children with severe behavioural difficulties, which may preclude them from attending other early years provision.

Family Support Services

(services are designed to meet specific need and this list is therefore for guidance only):

• Focused family support - with initial assessment, agreed work plan and three-monthly reviews  
• Specific pieces of work - focused individual work, as part of agreed Care Plan, either at the centre or at the family home
• Assessments - Parenting assessments  
• Adult group work - focused group work, for example - parenting skills, assertiveness and behaviour management  
• Direct work (adult) - individual work with parent / carer , to help them make sense of, and manage difficulties in family life
• Life Story Work (child) - Individual work with the child to promote their identity and help them understand what happened in their life
• Family support groups - Supportive sessions for families experiencing difficulties to meet (both at the centre and off site), and develop their parenting skills
• Therapeutic work - individual therapeutic play work with identified children  
• Supervised contact - Assessment of, or work with, parent-child relationships  
• Children's groups - Small, nurturing groups with high adult / child ratio to meet specific needs, as part of family support. These groups are held after school for older children  and are adapted to meet the specific needs of the identified children
• Play schemes - holiday play schemes for young children (externally funded)  
• Family play sessions - holiday schemes for families as part of family support package to promote parent / child relationships through play
• Family work with schools - Collaborative work with West Exe Schools.  

Other Services Include:

• Adult education courses - Held at the centre, run by the Adult Learning Centre and Exeter College   
• Family workshops - Graft-based activities for parents / carers / children in conjunction with Devon Family Project, working on developing confidence and self esteem  
• Equipment loan - Equipment loan  
• Toy library - Based at the Play Training and Resource Centre, Belmont Park (externally funded)  
• Joint work with Health Visitors - Health Visitors work closely with Family Support Staff, both formal and informal group work
• Link Tutor Service - The centre provides a venue for local children who are out of school to meet with their link tutor  
• Credit Union collection point - open Wednesday 3 pm -5 pm  
• Specific Support Groups e.g.. Foster Carers - The centre is used regularly by support groups

The Centre works closely with other agencies to provide positive experiences for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. In addition to working with young children and their carers, the Centre is able to offer positive and supportive placements for young people, and training opportunities for staff working with children and families.