Birmingham Families First
The vision
Our vision is 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 centre piece of the work will be the implementation of a District Operating Model. This has been initially developed with representatives from across Birmingham Children and Young People’s Partnership and we are currently developing the detailed plan for its design and initial pilot in Hodge Hill that will start from November 2025.
The priority outcomes 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 and has the following membership:
- Sue Harrison (Executive Director 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 sits within the wider partnership and therefore will also engage partners across schools, the Integrated Care Board, wider council, police and voluntary sector as required to progress the work.
Finding out more about Birmingham Families First
As the programme develops, more information will be shared with staff in each of the organisations involved.
Webinars will be taking place at the end of November with details shared here as soon as possible.
Page last updated: 31 November 2025
