Best Start is a universal service that can give you access to early intervention support from pregnancy until your child turns 5. The service ensures that babies and children have the best start in life by giving them access to the right services and information.

The Best Start service is made up of different organisations that work with:

• Families (parents and carers)
  
• Health visitors
  
• Midwives
  
• GPs
  
• Community parents support
  
• Early learning practitioners and children's centres

The Croydon Support and Interventions team offer parenting programmes for parents and carers of children of all ages from 0 to 18 years.

Parenting programmes can help you:

• learn new skills and strategies to manage challenging behaviour as well as reinforce positive behaviour.
• become more confident in your parenting.
• encourage you to look after yourself.
• gain peer support from other parents and build your own support networks.
• learn to promote your child’s development.

Early help is the support we give to children, young people and their families where they have additional needs that are not being met by universal services i.e. their school or GP. The support is given through our Early Help Family Solutions service.

For further information on how to access services, please click here.