Early Help guidance for professionals

Two adults and a child

Early Help guidance for professionals

Early Help guidance for professionals is here to provide information and guidance for Early Help agencies so they can support families to make positive change

What is Early Help?

This Early Help guidance professionals page is here to provide information and guidance for Early Help agencies so they can support families to make positive change.

The Worcestershire’s Early Help Partnership believe that families who are identified as needing Early Help, are best supported by practitioners who are already working with them, alongside other agencies and services including the voluntary sector within their local community.

Early Help means providing help and support to a child, young person or their family as soon as it is identified that they need additional help and support. This could be at any point in a child or young person’s life e.g. pre-birth right the way through to 18 years of age (25 years of age for some SEND children) and more than once, as we know children’s needs change as they grow, and their family circumstances change.

By Early Help agencies providing or helping a family access help and support at the earliest opportunity, they are supporting children and young people to meet their full potential and trying to stop challenges or difficulties they are facing from escalating for them and their family.

Early Help agencies

Working Together 2018 identifies that: “effective Early Help relies upon local organisations and agencies working together to:

  • identify children and families who would benefit from Early Help
  • undertake an assessment of the need for Early Help
  • provide targeted Early Help services to address the assessed needs of a child and their family which focuses on activity to improve the outcomes for the child

Worcestershire Children First, under section 10 of the Children Act 2004, have a responsibility to promote inter-agency co-operation to improve the welfare of all children. As an Early Help organisation you should have in place effective ways to identify emerging problems and potential unmet needs of individual children and families.

Worcestershire Children First works with organisations and agencies to develop joined-up Early Help services based on a clear understanding of local needs. This requires all practitioners, including those in universal services and those providing services to adults with children, to understand their role in identifying emerging problems and to share information with other practitioners, complete whole family assessments, (and submit these to Worcestershire Children First) and think whole family in their approach to supporting these families.

Early Help agencies can include but are not limited to:
  • Police officers and PCSOs
  • Probation Services
  • Housing Support Officers
  • Teachers
  • Designated Safeguarding Leads
  • School/College Head Teachers
  • Teaching Assistants
  • Family Liaison Staff
  • Sports Coaches
  • Health Visitors
  • Paediatric Nurses
  • School Nurses
  • Sports Coaches
  • Health Visitors
  • Paediatric Nurses
  • School Nurses
  • SENCo's
  • Social Prescribers
  • Community  Connectors
  • Midwives
  • SENCo's
  • Social Prescribers
  • Community Connectors
  • Midwives
  • Young Carers GPs
  • Neighbours
  • Personal Assistants for Care Leavers
  • Nursery Nurses
  • Parents
  • Carers
  • Grandparents
  • Fire Fighters
  • Parenting Practitioners
  • Places of Worship
  • Youth Justice
  • Extended family network
  • Foodbanks
  • After School Club staff
  • Voluntary and Community Organisations
  • Youth Workers

(for contact details for these agencies in your area please visit The Worcestershire Virtual Family Hub)

Submit an Early Help Assessment

Please note this is not a referral or a request for service. You MUST attach an Early Help Assessment or a Closure Summary to this form.

Early Help Assessment and guidance

Our Worcestershire approach to early help and support pathway.

The Early Help process

Our Worcestershire approach to early help and support pathway.

Training and events

Worcestershire County Council also provides a dedicated training programme for practitioners working with children, young people and their families in Worcestershire

FAQs and guidance

We have produced a question-and-answer section based on questions partner agencies have asked to support you with your Early Help offers to children and young people in Worcestershire.

How to set up your settings Early Help Offer

Early Help is a pathway to supporting parents/carers and their child as they grow up when they may need further support or guidance.

Posters and resources

Some useful resources and posters that can be downloaded and printed

Download our Early Help booklet

Document containing some of our Early Help services and support available across the county for families.

Worcestershire Virtual Family Hub

The virtual family hub gives you a range of different types of resources that are available to you online.

Ready Steady Worcestershire

Information about the Holiday Activities and Food Programme, for parents and providers.

Levels of need guidance

This document sets out the local criteria for action when an early help response and the criteria for making a referral to local authority children’s social care.

Team Around the Family information and guidance

A Team Around the Family is a meeting between a child, young person, their family and the group of professionals who are working with them.

Family Plan

What WCF strive for is our families to continue with the good work they have hopefully achieved within their child’s plan

Process for partner agencies

Process for partner agencies /professionals when they have safeguarding concerns for families who are open to Early Help family support team

Supporting children without parental consent

When working with young people it is important to understand that they can ask for help and support for themselves and may choose to ask you not to share this with their parents

Learning from serious case reviews

This short briefing note aims to summarise the key learning points from the independent child safeguarding practice review panel’s national review.

Supporting families into work

Guidance from Fusion which has been successful to date in being awarded three contracts which have brought a £3 million investment into the county.

Practitioners guidance for families affected by parents drinking

Advice and guidance from NACOA.

Suicide support

A free and confidential signposting service for those bereaved and affected by suicide

Gypsy Roma Traveller Education

Gypsy Roma Traveller Education support

Early Help strategy

The document outlines the Worcestershire Early Help strategy for how the partnership will work together to help and support children, young people and families living in Worcestershire.

Domestic abuse strategy

Read our domestic abuse strategy

Keep Me Safe Strategy

Read the Keep Me Safe Strategy.

30 hours and tax-free childcare

Find a range of communications tools to help you promote 30 hours and Tax-Free childcare. Such as useful email templates, leaflets, posters and social media content.

Requesting help and support from a family support worker

If you are a professional working or have been in contact with a family or young person who wants or needs help and support from a family support worker and you assess them as needing support, request via our online request for family support form.

Supporting Families outcomes update

Supporting Families outcomes update document.
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