‘It can be alienating’: Councillor speaks up for young parents as support service for under-24s is decomissioned

Cllr Sophie Conway. Photograph: Hackney Labour

Young parents can feel “alienated” and need tailored support to help them find their feet, a senior politician has said.

Cllr Sophie Conway’s concerns comes as a service aimed at mothers under the age of 24 is decommissioned.

The Family Nurse Partnership was delivered by the Whittington Hospital and included up to 64 visits by nurses until the child is two years old.

However, commissioners at City and Hackney Public Heath thought it was not flexible enough as it was limited to helping first-time parents and excluded communities with a high birth rate.

It will be replaced by an enhanced health visiting service for all parents – not just young mothers – with a child under five.  Young parents had said they wanted help with more than one child.

Commissioners said the new service will be better targeted at vulnerable families and include a speech, language, and communication review. It will start in September this year.

Cllr Conway, chair of Hackney’s children and young people scrutiny commission, wanted assurances that young parents will get the tailored support they need.

“They are losing a service that is just for them,” she said. “We are replacing it with something that doesn’t perhaps realise that being a young parent can make you a bit vulnerable.”

Cllr Conway added: “I was a young parent and I know how alienating it can be.”

Director of children’s services, Jacquie Burke, said: “We are absolutely committed to young parents.”

She explained that the previous service “was not hitting the spot for what is needed for young parents”.

Earlier, local parents under the age of 25 had met with councillors to share their experiences.

Cllr Margaret Gordon reported that one care leaver spoke about how frequent moves meant she had to reduce her possessions as there was “nowhere to put items from her childhood”.

Others spoke about social workers offering to be the birth partner or knitting a baby blanket.

Young mothers talked about the pressures of housing and their increased focus and ambition to care for their child.

The number of mothers under 18 in Hackney has dropped – with just 10 in 2020/21.

According to the Homerton Hospital, fewer women under 25 have early access to maternity care compared with older expectant women.

Cathy Ashley from the national Family Rights Group said it is also essential that young fathers do not feel like “the ghost in the room”.

More than 1,240 young parents used Hackney’s children’s centres last year, with stay-and-play sessions proving popular, the commission was told.