A 'GROUND-BREAKING' new facility which will help Flintshire families has been opened.

Flintshire County Council welcomed Sally Holland, the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, to launch the county's new Early Help Hub recently.

A spokesman for Flintshire Council said: "This ground-breaking innovation was commissioned by the Flintshire Public Service Board and is designed to deliver more timely, and co-ordinated, support to families with greater needs.

"The launch celebrated the hub’s achievements to date sharing positive stories about how we have worked collectively to support families with 2 or more ACE’s (Adverse Childhood Experiences)."

Sally Holland said at the launch: "For too long children and their families have been expected to fit into the services on offer, rather than services responding to their needs.

“Flintshire Council and its partners have started to respond more flexibly to the needs of families, and working in a more joined-up way to make sure people get the support they need when they need it, not when their problems get ‘bad enough’ to qualify for help.

“I hope that children and their families will now get the right, early support that they need.”

Cllr Christine Jones, Flintshire Council’s cabinet member for social services, said: "This is a really cutting edge approach to multi-agency partners working together to support some of our most vulnerable families.

“The key aim is that organisations work together to ensure children, young people and families have access to information and advice about relevant early support.

"The Early Help Hub will support people to build their coping skills and address any problems before these become entrenched.”

The Early Help Hub has a strong focus on organisations working together to reach the children and families that would benefit from early help.