Early Help Assessment

1. Introduction

Multi-agency working can make a unique contribution to preventative and early intervention services, because it has been shown to be the most effective way of addressing the wide range of risk factors that contribute to poorer outcomes for children and young people.

2. Early Help Assessment

Working Together to Safeguard Children Chapter 3 Section 1 (Working Together to Safeguard Children) sets out national guidance on early help. Early help means providing support as soon as a problem emerges at any point in a child's life that improves a family’s resilience and outcomes or reduces the chance of a problem getting worse.

It is not an individual service, but a system of support delivered by local authorities and their partners working together and taking collective responsibility to provide the right provision in their area. Some early help is provided through ‘universal services’, such as education and health services. They are universal services because they are available to all families, regardless of their needs. Other early help services are coordinated by a local authority and/or their partners to address specific concerns within a family and can be described as targeted early help. Examples of these include parenting support, mental health support, youth services, youth offending teams and housing and employment services.

Early help may be appropriate for children and families who have several needs, or whose circumstances might make them more vulnerable. It is a voluntary approach, requiring the family’s consent to receive support and services offered. These may be provided before and/or after statutory intervention.

The Early Help System Guide provides a toolkit to assist local strategic partnerships responsible for their early help system in their area. Effective provision 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 which considers the needs of all members of the family;
• Ensure good ongoing communication, for example, through regular meetings between practitioners who are working with the family;
• Co-ordinate and/or provide support as part of a plan to improve outcomes. This plan will be designed together with the child and family, and updated as and when the child and family needs change;
• Engage effectively with families and their family network, making use of family group decision-making, such as family group conferences, to help meet the needs of the child.

3. Identifying Children and Families who would benefit from Early Help Assessment

Local agencies should have in place effective ways to identify emerging problems and potential unmet needs for individual children and families. This requires all professionals, 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 professionals to support early identification and assessment.

Effective provision 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 which considers the needs of all members of the family;
• Ensure good ongoing communication, for example, through regular meetings between practitioners who are working with the family;
• Co-ordinate and/or provide support as part of a plan to improve outcomes. This plan will be designed together with the child and family, and updated as and when the child and family needs change;
• Engage effectively with families and their family network, making use of family group decision-making, such as family group conferences, to help meet the needs of the child.

Any child may benefit from early help, but practitioners should, in particular, be alert to the potential need for early help for a child who:

• Is disabled and has specific additional needs;
• Has special educational needs (whether or not they have a statutory Education, Health and Care Plan);
• Is a young carer;
• Is bereaved;
• Is showing signs of being drawn in to anti-social or criminal behaviour, including being affected by gangs and county lines and organised crime groups and/or serious violence, including knife crime;
• Is frequently missing/goes missing from care or from home;
• Is persistently absent from education, including persistent absences for part of the school day;
• Is at risk of modern slavery, trafficking, sexual and/or criminal exploitation;
• Is at risk of being radicalised;
• Is viewing problematic and/or inappropriate online content (for example, linked to violence), or developing inappropriate relationships online;
• Is at risk of so called 'honour'-based abuse or Forced Marriage;
• At risk of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM);
• Is in a family circumstance presenting challenges for the child, such as drug and alcohol misuse, adult mental health issues and domestic abuse;
• Is misusing drugs or alcohol themselves;
• Is suffering from mental ill health;
• Has returned home to their family from care;
• Is a privately fostered child;
• Has a parent/carer in custody;
• Is missing education, or persistently absent from school, or not in receipt of fulltime education;
• Has experienced multiple suspensions and is at risk of, or has been permanently excluded.

Professionals working in universal services have a responsibility to identify the symptoms and triggers of abuse and neglect, to share that information and work together to provide children and young people with the help they need. Practitioners need to continue to develop their knowledge and skills in this area. They should have access to training to identify and respond early to abuse and neglect, and to the latest research showing what types of interventions are the most effective.

4. Effective Assessment of the Need for Early Help Assessment

Local agencies should work together to put processes in place for the effective assessment of the needs of individual children who may benefit from Early Help Assessment services.

Children and families may need support from a wide range of local agencies. Where a child and family would benefit from coordinated support from more than one agency (e.g. education, health, housing, Police) there should be an inter-agency process in place. Early Help Assessments should identify what help the child and family require to prevent needs escalating to a point where intervention would be needed via a statutory assessment under the Children Act 1989 (see Working Together to Safeguard Children for more information).

Early Help Assessment should be undertaken by a lead practitioner who should provide support to the child and family, act as an advocate on their behalf and coordinate the delivery of support services. The lead practitioner role could be undertaken by a General Practitioner (GP), family support worker, teacher, health visitor and/or special educational needs coordinator. Decisions about who should be the lead practitioner should be taken on a case by case basis and should be informed by the child and their family.

For an Early Help Assessment to be effective:

• The assessment should be undertaken with the agreement of the child and their parents or carers. It should involve the child and family as well as all the professionals who are working with them;
• A teacher, GP, health visitor, youth worker, early years' worker or other professional should be able to discuss concerns they may have about a child and family with a professional from Early Help Assessment and/or Social Care in the local authority. Local authority Children's Social Care should set out the process for how this will happen; and
• If parents and/or the child do not consent to an Early Help Assessment, the lead practitioner / Practitioner should make a judgement as to whether, without help, the needs of the child will escalate. If so, a referral into local authority Children's Social Care may be necessary.

5. Provision of Effective Early Help Assessment Services

Early Help Assessments carried out for an individual child and their family should be clear about the action to be taken and services to be provided (including any relevant timescales) and aim to ensure that Early Help Assessment services are coordinated and not delivered in a piecemeal way.

Local areas should have a range of effective, evidence-based services in place to address assessed needs early. The Early Help Assessment on offer should draw upon the local assessment of need and the latest evidence of the effectiveness of Early Help Assessment and early intervention programmes. In addition to high quality support in universal services, specific local Early Help Assessment services will typically include family and parenting programmes, assistance with health issues and help for problems relating to drugs, alcohol and domestic violence. Services may also focus on improving family functioning and building the family's own capability to solve problems; this should be done within a structured, evidence-based framework involving regular review to ensure that real progress is being made. Some of these services may be delivered to parents but should always be evaluated to demonstrate the impact they are having on the outcomes for the child. Practitioners from each agency involved should contribute to on-going assessment (including analysis) and implementation of the plan, and its review.

6. Accessing Help and Services

The provision of Early Help Assessment services should form part of a continuum of help and support to respond to the different levels of need of individual children and families.

Where need is relatively low level individual services and universal services may be able to take swift action. For other emerging needs a range of Early Help Assessment services may be required, coordinated through an agreed process, as set out above. Where there are more complex needs, help may be provided under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 (children in need). Where there are child protection concerns (reasonable cause to suspect a child is suffering or likely to suffer Significant Harm) local authority Social Care services must make enquiries and decide if any action must be taken under Section 47 of the Children Act 1989.

It is important that there are clear criteria for taking action and providing help across this full continuum. Having clear thresholds for action which are understood by all professionals, and applied consistently, should ensure that services are commissioned effectively and that the right help is given to the child at the right time. For more information see Thresholds for Access to Services for Children and Families in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Children's Social Care.

Anyone who has concerns about a child's welfare should make a Referral - see: Referrals Procedure. For example, referrals may come from: children themselves, teachers, a GP, the Police, health visitors, family members and members of the public. Within local authorities, Children's Social Care should act as the principal point of contact for welfare concerns relating to children. Therefore, as well as clear protocols for professionals working with children, contact details should be signposted clearly so that children, parents and other family members are aware of who they can contact if they require advice and/or support.

When professionals refer a child, they should include any information they have on the child's developmental needs and the capacity of the child's parents or carers to meet those needs. This information may be included in any assessment, which may have been carried out prior to a referral into Children's Social Care. Where an Early Help Assessment has already been undertaken it should be used to support a referral to Children's Social Care, however this is not a prerequisite for making a referral.

Feedback should be given by Children's Social Care to the referrer on the decisions taken. Where appropriate, this feedback should include the reasons why a case may not meet the statutory threshold to be considered by Children's Social Care for assessment and suggestions for other sources of more suitable support.