About Birmingham Families First
Birmingham Families First is our children’s partnership approach to the national reforms. It builds on services working in a joined-up way around children, young people and families.
Birmingham Families First is jointly led by:
- Birmingham Children’s Trust
- the council
- health partners
To find out more, download the Birmingham Families First update for May 2026.
Our vision
To deliver improved outcomes for children, young people and families through integrated services, delivered in partnership, at a district level.
A core principle is a passionate belief in providing earlier, more proactive and effective support to children, young people and families, in line with the current national reform direction.
District Operating Model
The operational centrepiece of the work will be a District Operating Model.
The model has been developed with representatives from across the Birmingham Children and Young People’s Partnership.
We are developing the detailed plan for its design and the initial pilot in Hodge Hill, that started in November 2025.
The priorities for this work are:
- keeping more families together
- improving school attendance
- improving child development in early years
Governance
The Birmingham Families First Transformation Group oversees the programme.
Transformation Group membership:
- Sue Harrison, Executive Director of Children and Families – Birmingham City Council
- Adrian Weissenbruch, Director of Children’s Commissioning and Performance – Birmingham City Council
- James Thomas, Chief Executive – Birmingham Children’s Trust
- Suzanne Cleary, Deputy Chief Executive – Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
- Jenny Watson, Assistant Director for Transformation – Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Provider Collaborative, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
- Carol McCauley, Senior Strategic Commissioner – Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Provider Collaborative, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
Birmingham Families First is part of the wider partnership and works with partners as needed to progress the work, including:
- schools
- Integrated Care Board (ICB)
- wider council
- police
- voluntary sector
Timelines
January to April 2026
Innovation in Hodge Hill and testing new ways of working.
May to August 2026
- Refining the frameworks from our learning in Hodge Hill.
- Planning for roll out to other districts.
September to December 2026
Roll out across remaining districts, likely to be in 3 waves:
- east
- north-west
- central and south
December 2026 to March 2027
Embedding and moving to business as usual.
Birmingham Families First graphic
This graphic represents what we are trying to achieve.
It shows a map of Birmingham with its 10 districts in the top left, and a circular graphic with families at its centre and us wrapping services around them at a district level.
Page last updated: 5 June 2026
