Council workers have vowed to work with parents and children together in a bid to prevent youngsters from going into care in Southampton.

The 'new expert approach' focuses on what is called family safeguarding, drawing on domestic abuse experts, alongside mental health support and substance misuse.

It marks a step away from council workers focusing on parents and children separately, and aims to keep more families together rather than youngsters being fostered or adopted.

A commemorative plaque was unveiled at Itchen Sixth Form College to launch the new scheme model in Southampton.

Cllr Alexander Winning, cabinet member for children and learning, said: “We’re here to celebrate a milestone that marks a new expert approach that will benefit children, young people, and families throughout the city.

“By launching this model, we’re taking a significant step forward into building a compassionate, resilient, and high-performance service – one that prioritises the well-being of families.”

College principal Alex Scott, the children’s mayor of Southampton, Freya Orendecki, and council representatives gathered on Monday,

The plaque has been placed in front of an apple tree planted by students earlier this year to mark World Social Work Day.

The plaque says:  “Marking Southampton’s commitment to keeping families together wherever it is safe to do so."

Robert Henderson, interim executive director for wellbeing, children and learning at the council said: “It’s a new model of delivery for working with children, the core principle of that is that rather than just working with children and their parents being worked with separately by adult professionals, we bring those professionals into our children’s social care team, so it’s integrated.”

Members of Southampton City Council, Itchen College, and the children's mayor unveils a plaque commemorating the launch of Family Safeguarding (Image: Matt Davey) College boss Mr Scott added: “The concept of family safeguarding aligns with our own values and what we aim to achieve as a college.

“Today we’ve had around 1,400 16 to 18-year-olds on site, we also deliver education to 200 adults, both here and in the community.

“We hope to create a circle of positive engagement, because if we create positive attitudes with education – offering a safe space to learn and thrive – we can create lasting change.”