Funded by Hertfordshire County Council, Ohana is a free support group established in Hertfordshire in direct response to the voices of care experienced young parents, staffed by a blend of employed coordinators and volunteers.
Many new parents feel disconnected from friends and family but those with care experience where traditional family and social networks are more limited, reported an added sense of isolation, which made the already challenging job of parenting even harder. This was particularly exacerbated during and after the pandemic. Ohana has been developed with care experienced young parents to help them and their children build new and supportive relationships, outside of the professional world.
Funded by Hertfordshire County Council, Ohana ("Ohana means family and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.”) is staffed by a blend of employed coordinators and volunteers, and has a three part offer: drop-ins to a peer support group which meets weekly, face to face or online, organises fun and holiday activities and days out, offers courses such as ‘My Baby’s Brain, and brings in guest speakers and other services in response to interest or needs of the group; access to an Ohana Champion, a volunteer who offers emotional and practical support on a long term basis; and support from Lifelong Links which helps to find and bring together people who can provide support in the future.
Young parents can access all or part of the Ohana offer as they choose; some seeking regular contact, some more intensive support and some joining the group for holiday activities.
As the key aim of Ohana is to respond effectively to the needs of care experienced young parents, their inclusion has been a cornerstone from the start. They were involved in drawing up the job descriptions of the Ohana Champions, take part in the two-day DBS training of the volunteers and are on the interview panel.
Ohana young parents are also sharing their care experience to influence and improve social work practice more widely. They have contributed to the ‘post card’ messages for corporate parents developed by the Children’s Social Care Research and Development Centre (CASCADE) at Cardiff University and ran a workshop at the East of England Social Work Conference.
The positive opportunities provided by Ohana impacts the key ingredients of care experienced young parents own wellbeing and their parenting skills, with improvements in: self-esteem, problem solving skills and feelings of resilience; parenting confidence and competence to keep children safe within their families; and positivity about their lives and achieving their goals. Ohana has been praised by Ofsted in the 2023 HCC Children’s Services outstanding Ofsted judgement, but its value is perhaps best illustrated in the testimonies of young parents:
“I wanted to say thank you for all your support and Ohana is amazing. I struggle to feel happy, but I always feel genuinely happy when I come to the group, so thank you again.”
“I don't know what I would do without Ohana. It has really helped me. I am more of a woman now all thanks to the group.”
Watch a video filmed about Ohana for our Step Ahead campaign:
Lessons learned
- We have learnt the value of listening and working in close partnership with care experienced parents to ensure our services offer what is needed.
- The right staff are critical to engage with and build trusting relationships with care experienced young parents. They need to be genuine, caring, consistent, committed, and tenacious.
- Having a dedicated specialist service for care experienced young parents contributes to improved health, education and economic outcomes for them and their children.