Families and Parenting Service - East Sussex

Who we are

The Families and Parenting Service delivers a range of innovative support and interventions for families and young people across East Sussex. The service works generically with families with multiple, complex problems, in a bid to reduce risk and enable families to achieve control and stability in their lives.

What we do

Our service provides intensive, non negotiable and persistent support to reduce poverty, antisocial behaviour, offending and domestic abuse. We also aim to improve family and parenting relationships; addressing low school attendance; unemployment; physical and mental health problems; tenancy issues and substance misuse. Integral to our service’s work is the safeguarding of vulnerable adults and children.

We also seek to raise aspirations and break inter-generational patterns of unemployment and offending and, as such, it is driven by a belief that early intervention and intensive, whole-family, co-ordinated support can achieve lasting, positive outcomes for individuals and local communities.

Currently, the service delivers intensive, holistic family support (Intensive Family Intervention Project), Triple P, STOP and Speak Easy.

Next steps

For more information contact Sarah Bainger or Kirsten Adams on 01424 423 344 or download a referral form here.

Further information

You can download some further information about the project below:

Information for IFIP referral:

The focus of our work is to reduce statutory involvement and repeat referral or registration to Children’s Social Care.

IFIP is to be used as an early intervention or as a prevention tool for referrals that may not go to Sec 47/been NFA’d – what are these? – in order to prevent re-referral.

The IFIP works with families whose children are subject to a Child Protection Plan who may be struggling to make changes (with a view to reducing risk of care proceedings).

The IFIP can work with families post Child Protection Plan to maintain and sustain change, to prevent repeat referral.

The family must have multiple, complex needs such as ASB, offending, tenancy problems, substance misuse problems, health/mental health issues, domestic abuse unemployment, truancy, poverty, poor parenting etc and need intensive support in order to make and sustain positive changes.

Primarily the service will work with referrals from Hastings, St Leonards and Eastbourne and will prioritise referrals from Children’s Social Care/MATT/Eastbourne, Lewes and Wealden Housing, however referrals can be received from other agencies following a discussion with a manager (01424 423 344).  Such referrals will need to evidence concerns regarding the long term outcomes for the family and/or children.

Testimonials
"The practitioner never made me feel like a bad parent but this is what I thought before the support started. I am proud of the effort I have made and it has been great having someone to talk to. I understand that my past has had an impact on my parenting and exploring this was difficult but beneficial. I felt ill with everything that was going on but the practitioner helped me reduce that and she gave me help to tackle things from a different angle which has helped my relationship with my son. I think my practitioner is great at her job and although I was against it [the intervention] initially, this was the best kind of support I could have asked for."