Over the past 18 months, we’ve been proud to work alongside Cumberland Council as they continue to develop their approach to supporting children and families through their Family Hubs and Start for Life programme. This partnership has grown from sharing learning and best practice to providing practical support that it helping turn ambitious plans into action.

Improving outcomes for babies, young children and their families starts with understanding communities, listening to local voices and making the most of the strengths that already exist around us. From that point, is why we have recently been commissioned by Cumberland Children’s Services to provide mentoring and training for Family Hub teams around asset mapping and community integration. This work builds on our earlier support to help shape the development of Cumberland’s Best Start in Life Plan and our joint review of the area’s Early Years Strategic Plan, which identified strengths to build upon and opportunities for further improvement.

Looking beyond services to see community strengths

In September, colleagues from Better Start delivered an Asset Mapping Workshop for 21 staff from across Cumberland’s Family Hubs, including Community Navigators, Family Support workers, Hub Managers and Service Managers.

Asset mapping is about much more than simply recording local services. It helps organisations understand the relationships, networks, places and people that contribute to a thriving community.

During the workshop, we explored the difference between reach and meaningful engagement, the importance of understanding local priorities, and how asset mapping can reveal opportunities for stronger partnership working.

A key focus was recognising that communities are supported not only by formal services such as Family Hubs, schools and GP practices, but also by the everyday networks that families rely on. These can include community groups, trusted local figures, neighbours, informal support systems and the places that form part of daily life.

By understanding these wider assets, practitioners can develop a richer picture of a community and identify how existing strengths can be harnessed to improve outcomes for families.

Building confidence across a diverse workforce

Staff attending the workshop came from a wide range of professional backgrounds and operational roles. Bringing these perspectives together created valuable opportunities to develop a shared understanding of community-centred practice and to explore how different teams can work more effectively towards common goals.

The session encouraged participants to think about the lived experiences of families and the contexts in which they make decisions every day. Understanding those experiences is essential if services are to respond effectively to local needs and make the best use of available resources.

The enthusiasm in the room was clear. Teams left with a shared objective and a commitment to take the next stage of the work back into their local communities.

“The Cumberland Family Hubs team are delighted to have the opportunity to draw on Better Start’s rich experience of working with families and communities. We are at a pivotal point in our journey with newly established teams across eight family hub localities. We were keen to find out as much as we can about our local families and communities and how we can adapt and grow our offer to meet their needs. Working with Better Start on this has helped complement our data intelligence with ‘on the ground’ research and insight on the lived experience of families.”

Katie Clarke, Service Manager – Family Hubs and Best Start in Life, Family Help, Partnerships & Youth Justice, Cumberland Council 

The next step

Over the coming weeks, Family Hub teams across Cumberland’s nine hubs will work with families and communities to create their own local asset maps. These maps will capture not only buildings, services and infrastructure, but also the relationships, support networks and community strengths that help families navigate everyday life.

The findings will be brought together in a follow-up workshop, where teams will explore how this learning can inform future service delivery and strengthen support for children and families.

For Better Start, this work demonstrates the value of partnership, shared learning and a belief that communities themselves are often best placed to identify what matters most. By combining strategic planning with community insight, we can help create systems that are not only effective, but genuinely grounded in the lives of the families they serve.

We look forward to continuing our partnership with Cumberland Council as they develop their Family Hubs offer and work towards delivering the very best start in life for children across the county.