Parents have called for Tower Hamlets children’s centres to become “family health hubs” with health checks and even help getting jobs.
They set targets at the parents’ summit staged by the council to help shape how the ‘early childhood’ services should work to give children in the East End a good start.
Feedback from the consultation held at Bethnal Green’s Professional Development centre is being used to plan an ‘early years’ strategy.
The aim is to help family needs from early childhood, through education, health and social care.
“The science in child welfare is clear,” Mayor John Biggs said.
“Our task is to disrupt those adverse childhood experiences and to encourage learning from an early age to give children the best start in life.”
Parents also called for the centres to offer early language speech and therapy development, as well as more pre-natal and maternity services run by hospitals.
The council’s early years service provides childcare for working mums and job opportunities in child social care.
It runs 12 centres which include child development, school readiness and play sessions.
More specialist services are also available if more help is needed in special needs to make life easier for families.
‘Early help’ is the term used by Tower Hamlets social care agencies that provides support for children, young people and their families as soon as problems start to emerge.
This can be early in life or early in the problem, for families to get help as quickly as possible from agencies in health, housing, police, education and children’s centres.
Parenting support is also offered in schools and community centres Monday to Saturday.
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