Early Help for Children and Families 

Early Help Offer

At Baysgarth School we recognise the challenges that families face in promoting their children and young people to be safe, well, prosperous and connected.   There may be times when parents or caregivers need extra help and support.  If  this is the case, please come and talk to us. There are many ways in which we can help  as outlined in this offer of early help.  

The diagram below shows the range of needs at different levels. At Baysgarth School we use this graduated approach to make sure we provide the best support for different families’ individual situations. 

This video explains what early help is.

Early Help is the support provided to a child or family as soon as a problem emerges or to prevent further problems in the future. The main aim is to improve outcome for children and their families.

Confidentiality

Generally, information which you and your family provide will only be shared with those who are helping you and those that need to know.

However, there may be certain times when the people working with you need to share information.

For example:

• when there are concerns that a child or young person is at risk of, or is suffering, abuse or neglect

• when an adult is at risk of harm

• to help prevent or detect a serious crime

Who will be the lead professional?

Any professional can complete an Early Help Assessment with you.

The lead professional will usually be the worker who is someone you know and trust. They will complete the assessment with you and your family, arrange meetings and will keep you informed, listen to your views and support you through the whole process. The lead professional will work with you and will make sure everything is going to plan.

What is an Early Help Assessment?

The Early Help Assessment is a way of gathering information from you about what your family need help with and using it to decide on the right type of support and actions to be taken to improve things.

The assessment builds on your family’s strengths and what is working well. The assessment is voluntary which means you can choose if you want to accept support.

As part of the Early Help Assessment we would discuss with parents and carers:-

• How your child presents including  the child’s health and development 

• Behaviour at school, at home and in the community

• Educational progress and attitudes to learning

• Friendships and relationships

• Family and parenting capacity including housing, health, relationships

• Special educational and additional needs

• Any support they currently receive and other agencies currently involved

• What is going well; worries and concerns

• Family history and functioning and the impact this has had on the child/young person

How does it work?

With your agreement, the professional you are working with will talk to you and your family about what is going well in your family, any worries or concerns you have and what you would like to change. This information is recorded on a simple form along with any other relevant information such as what support has helped before and why the problems may be happening. You and your family will agree what needs to happen next.

What happens next?

If the assessment shows that there is a need for some additional help or support, the lead professional will arrange a meeting with you and the people who can help you.

Meetings are usually held within 20 working days of the assessment being completed. If there is a reason why this cannot happen the lead professional will contact you.

If there are still things that you need help with after the first meeting, more meetings can be agreed which are usually between 6 and 12 weeks apart.

How will the Early Help Assessment help my family?

The Early Help Assessment is used to identify the help that is needed at the earliest point, and to prevent things from escalating or getting worse. It could help to find a quick solution or identify extra support if needed.

The information gathered will be used to help you to consider what is happening in your family, why it is happening and what you want to change. The professionals you are working with will then help you and your family to create a plan that says what you and other people will do to help you make the changes needed.

The Early Help Assessment will ensure that everyone involved with your family – such as schools, health professionals, housing officers or support workers – communicates and works together to support you.

The local principles of early help which we embed in our own practices include:

• supporting children and families to find their own solutions and help them build support networks within the community

• working with the views and experience of the child and family, being solution focused and building on the strengths of the child and family so that they can be independent of services

• being clear in our work with children and families about the intended outcomes and how to achieve these

The provision of early help services forms part of a continuum of support to respond to the different levels of need of individual children and families.  At Baysgarth School where we cannot meet needs alone we would look at engaging a multi-agency approach by referring to a variety of external partners and agencies including: 

• Local PCSO and Police Team

• Community Cohesion Officer

• Education Inclusion Service

• Child Exploitation Intervention Team

• Youth Justice Programme

• Delta (Young People's Substance Misuse Service)

• Family Support Services

• Young Carers

• School Nursing Team

• With Me in Mind

• The Blue Door

• Think for the future Behaviour & Resilience Mentoring 

• Community Eating Disorder Service Children & Young People (CEDS-CYP)

For those children and families who are more vulnerable, where early help plans are not making sufficient positive difference and the child may be at risk of long term impairment to health and development and or where they are at risk of or have suffered significant harm a discussion would be had in the first instance with our Child Protection Officer who would refer to Children’s Services in line with relevant Children’s MARS procedures.