The funding will go towards a wealth of activities geared towards parents and their children up to the age of 2 years, with advice on pregnancy, infant feeding, parent support, early language and the home learning environment, and help to improve mental health and to reinforce positive early relationships between babies and caregivers.The funding is part of a pot of £126 million in early years support pledged by the Department of Health and Social Care and Department for Education (DfE). The aim is for funding to go to areas with high levels of deprivation to provide a range of support to parents and carers.The £1,535,700 for Enfield comes on top of previous government funding given to the Council to develop the borough’s Youth and Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme. Family Hubs are a way of joining up local services and to connect families with professionals. Enfield now has two Family Hubs at Ponders End and Craig Park.In addition, support from the DfE has allowed Enfield Council to invest in a broad range of programmes to support the delivery of accessible maternity, baby and family help. These include Anya, a breastfeeding and parenting support app and Qwell, a free and anonymous online mental health service for the wellbeing of adults aged 18 and over.
Enfield Council’s Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Cllr Abdul Abdullahi, said: “I warmly welcome the funding towards our ongoing provision to parents and caregivers in the borough. Our priority is to ensure all children are given the opportunity for a healthy, happy start and parents feel they have the assistance and encouragement from professionals to support their children’s development at the critical early stages.”
The funding comes at an important time for Enfield Council. The Council has recently prepared its new draft Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2024-30, which will be debated at the Full Council meeting on Wednesday, 22 January.
The Strategy has three pillars, one of which is “Start Well: thriving children and young people”. This is accompanied by four key priorities which are to support children to thrive in the early years and to be ready for their school or education setting; to improve nutrition, oral health and physical activity among children and young people; to support children and young people to maintain good emotional wellbeing and mental health; and to deliver early interventions and empower young people and families to seek out preventative healthcare.