Our early help teams work with participating families provide support to children, young people and their families as soon as difficulties start to emerge. We work with families and professionals to offer a range of support services, including:
Early Help could also include support with: parenting, employment, housing issues, financial difficulties, substance misuse, domestic abuse, school attendance and mental health.
Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 is statutory guidance we use to make sure we work together to provide effective early help services. Early help can:
Any professional working with your family, such as schools, health services and voluntary sector organisations, can offer early help services as soon as they can see that advice, support and/or intervention may be needed.
If more support is needed for a young person or family, professionals can submit a Multi-Agency Request for Support (MARS) referral. Consent is required from the family to submit this form.
You can find out more information on professionals requesting early help support, such as when to complete an early help assessment, when to hold a Team Around the Family (TAF) meeting and more, on our professional early help support webpage.