Family Support Service

Being a parent is one of the most important and difficult jobs we do. In recognition of this, the Family Support Service has developed an integrated team approach to supporting children, young people and parents in the Borders. We aim to:

provide a range of services in partnership with children, young people and their parents to promote safe and healthy development
work with families to continually improve our services
work with other agencies to develop an integrated and co-ordinated service.

Who are we?

We are a team of Social Workers, Intensive Outreach Workers, Health and Education staff.

Who is the service for?

Parents, parents to be, children and young people.

How to access the Family Support Service

Please speak to your Midwife, Health Visitor, Social Worker, Teacher, GP or other support agency about a referral. You can also contact the Family Support Service or your local Family Support Centre directly to speak to someone for more advice and information.

What services do we provide?

There are six Family Support Centres based in Eyemouth, Hawick, Kelso, Galashiels, Innerleithen and Selkirk. Each is staffed by family support workers and playleaders and offers a warm welcome to all families. The range of services provided includes:

group-work programmes for parents and children including ‘Getting Through the Day’, ‘Stay and Play’, ‘Play and Learn’, ‘Play and Health’, ‘Managing Tantrums’, ‘Managing Difficult Behaviour’, ‘Basic Parenting’ and ‘Healthy Eating’
after-school groups
informal drop-in groups where parents can meet and share ideas
good quality play activities for children
an outreach service to parents and children in their own homes
supervised contact/assessments for children in care and their families.

Other services

The Family Support Teacher provides:

support, advice, and training for parents
support and planning for school age children and their families, on both an individual and group work basis.

The Intensive Outreach Team provides:

support to parents and children 7 days a week
for 0-3yrs, intensive 1:1 support for parents and parents to be which includes assessments and teaching of parenting skills
for 3+yrs, 1:1 support for children and young people aged 4-18 who are experiencing difficulties in day-to-day life.

The Health Visitor and SureStart Midwife provides:

support, advice and training for parents to be and parents of young children
group work support for teenage parents
group work support for parents with Learning Difficulties
planning and support for vulnerable families before and after birth
assessment and teaching of parenting skills.

More information

More information is available in our leaflet about the Family Support Service (pdf 779Kb).