Photo story: York families can access information and support 24/7 thanks to the launch of two new websites

www.raiseyork.co.uk and www.yorksend.org (York’s Local Offer) have been created with children and young people, parents, carers and professionals to make it quicker and easier for local families to get the information they need about local services and community support.

The Raise York site is part of the city’s new network of Family Hubs; a project funded by the Department for Education to bring together organisations supporting children and families in a ‘one stop shop’.

A network of people, places and online support from pregnancy through to adulthood (age 19 years, or 25 years for people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities), the aim is to make it easier to get advice, help and support on a wide range of topics including infant feeding, mental health support, health visits and parenting classes.

The Raise York website is a digital extension of the city’s physical family hub network, which includes hubs at Clifton Children’s Centre; Hob Moor Children’s Centre and The Avenues Children’s Centre.

The physical hubs offer a warm welcome to all parents, carers and children and young people in York, whatever their family make-up. Specially trained Family Navigators are on-hand to guide to provide families with information and advice, helping people access further support if it’s needed.

Raise York Family Hubs are also being piloted with Explore Centres at Acomb, Tang Hall and York (City Centre). The friendly Explore staff team will welcome parents and children, help with any questions and point people in the right direction for further advice.

The new York SEND Local Offer site provides a dedicated resource for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, their families and the professionals working with them. The new site has been created with the help of local families to make sure the information is easy to navigate and the site contains all the information families need, in one place.

Cllr Bob Webb, the council’s Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education, said: “I’m really pleased that we’re able to launch these two new websites to help support families and young people in York.

“Creating an online element of our Raise York Family Hubs Network is key to ensuring that all families can access the help, advice and support they need at any time of the day or night.

“The new York SEND Local Offer site brings together a wealth of information, advice and support for local families with children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, which we know is so important, something that parents have been asking for and the reason the website has been put together.

“I’m immensely grateful to all the young people, parents, carers, families and professionals who have helped us create these new websites, making sure they’re easy to use and contain the information that local families want and need.”

The new sites are part of the council’s commitment to ensure that York is a health generating city for children and adults, supporting people with additional needs get the right support at the right time.

More information on the council’s priorities for 2023-2027 are set out in the council plan: One City for all www.york.gov.uk/councilplan