Support for professionals working with families

Family Help

Family Help is the response made when a professional identifies unmet needs with a child or family, and works in collaboration with families, networks and other agencies to meet those needs at the earliest opportunity.

An Early Help Assessment (EHA) should be completed with the child and family at this level of need and to identify: 

• what's working well - to understand and build on strengths
• what the worries are - to provide a clear focus for planning
• what future wellbeing would look like – to give a vision of future wellbeing

Any professional from a service that supports families can initiate an EHA and it can be carried out with any child or young person from before birth up to the age of 19 (or up to the age of 25 if the young person has a learning difficulty or disability).

The completion of an EHA would trigger a collaborative response from different agencies, with the child or young person at the centre.  A date will be set for a Team Around the Family (TAF) meeting, in order to identify a coordinator, agree the wellbeing plan, and which agency will work in partnership with the family and network to achieve each of the wellbeing goals.

Once agreed with the family:

• the EHA should be registered using the Online Registration Form
• if the EHA coordination changes, it is the responsibility of the current coordinator to complete the Online Early Help Change of Coordinator Form with the new Early Help Coordinator’s details.
• when the Early Help plan is met, or for stopped for another reason, the Online Early Help Closure Form should be submitted.

For more Early Help forms, guidance and information please visit the Westmorland and Furness Safeguarding Children Partnership website.

Contact

For advice or enquiries relating to Family Help, please use the details below:

Tel: 0300 373 2723
Email: family.help.waf@cumbria.gov.uk