Early Help is not a specific service or team it’s an approach to working that brings together professionals from a range of different services who will work with the whole family to help improve things for everyone.
We believe that children and families need to be heard when they first ask for help to minimise the risk of problems getting worse and help them address them at the earliest opportunity. Engaging a family in Early Help is also a voluntary process and consent from children, young people, and their families to work with them should always be sought. Without this, it is unlikely that they will engage in the support that we can offer them.
Early Help can be provided through a single agency or multi agency response as appropriate to the needs of the child and family and the concern.
Our principles for Early Help are based on the principles of the legislation as described in Working Together to Safeguard Children, 2018:
“Providing early help is more effective in promoting the welfare of children than reacting later. Early help means providing support as soon as a problem emerges, at any point in a child’s life, from the foundation years through to the teenage years. Early help can also prevent further problems arising, for example, if it is provided as part of a support plan where a child has returned home to their family from care.” Working Together to Safeguard Children, 2018
In practice, this means:
In delivering Early Help, we are very clear where there is a safeguarding concern, the safeguarding procedures of the Torbay Safeguarding Children Partnership must be followed.
Family Hubs are a new way of bringing together all the support a family may need and provides a welcoming space and a 'front door' for families from pregnancy through to young people turning 19 (or 25 if they experience SEND)
