City of York Council’s FIS has rolled out a new idea to work with volunteer parents to share relevant information through social media networks. This pilot has been showcased at the national Parent’s Champions Conference, as well as regional meetings and seminars and has been showcased by the Family and Childcare Trust as part of their social media toolkit. Currently, the idea has generated links between some 26,000 group members in York, significantly extending this statutory service’s reach.

These virtual champions – volunteer facebook group administrators – work with the FIS to get important messages out to the community. This includes news about free childcare for eligible two-year-olds, a new toy library or alerting parents and carers to a new campaign against child sexual exploitation or abuse.

The champions and the council have agreed how they can best support each other and share information. So far, the Tree of Mums, York Mumbler, York Inspirational Kids and Find a Childminder groups are working together with the council in this way. FIS is also supporting a new facebook group for dads, Yorkie Dads, as it sets up.

Other groups are in discussion with FIS to expand the virtual champions model and agree how it could work.

Niall McVicar, Children’s Trust Service Manager at City of York Council, said: “We know that when it comes to information, parents trust other parents and use official sources to complement this word of mouth sharing. This model makes the most of this networking and takes FIS to the point where parents are asking questions rather than waiting for the information to come to them.

“This is a really innovative approach to supporting parents that works! We would like to thank all those volunteers who run groups for families in York and others who’d like to get involved are welcome to get in touch.”

Follow the Family Information Service on facebook and twitter for news and information for families at www.yor-ok.org.uk/facebook  and www.twitter.com/yorkfis