Early Help
Support for partners in delivering Early Help for families
Early Help can be provided by one agency, or with a multi-agency response.
When we say agency, we mean everyone who is in contact with children and families, including:
- early years and childcare providers
- schools and post-16 providers
- childcare
- health
- police
- voluntary sector
- City of York Council
Early Help Consultants
To ensure that practitioners across the city are supported in the work they do with and for families, the Early Help Consultants offer a package of support to lead workers or any other individuals or services who are providing Early Help support to children and families.
Early Help Consultants do not work directly with families but are a point of contact for partners in the city who are working with children, young people and families at an Early Help level.
Support can be accessed at any point in your work with families and may include:
- reaching out to offer guidance when Family Help transfer to Early Help and you are to be the Lead Worker progressing and/or co-ordinating further support
- information about the range of provision and services available to York’s families
- training, guidance and support relating to the early help framework and associated practice and process
- coaching lead workers in early help practice by modelling the facilitation of family network meetings
- coaching lead workers in early help practice by supporting conversations with families, modelling the use of the Our Family Support Needs and Plan - the Early Help Assessment and Plan Tool Kit for York families
- advising lead workers about other agencies who may already, or potentially could, be involved to allow the development of an effective Team Around the Child and Family
- coaching lead workers in early help practice by modelling the chairing of a Team Around the Child and Family meeting
- offering a reflective discussion on a case-by-case basis when progress is stuck
- facilitating group supervision at a locality level when progress is stuck
- where the Our Family Support Needs and Plan tool has been shared with CYC, providing specific guidance and support to enhance the plan and/or improve progress
- bespoke training and support tailored to the specific needs of partner agencies and settings
- support from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Family Community Work Coach for those families who are open to early help and in receipt of out of work benefits, including advice on appropriate developmental and training routes for individuals experiencing worklessness and support to overcome barriers to progressing to employment
- follow-up guidance when there has been a recommendation by MASH that you and your agency/setting offer early help
Early Help tools and resources
To support practitioners in supporting families we have a library of tools and resources available, including Our Family Support Needs and Plan - the Early Help Assessment and Plan Tool Kit for York families, and the Early Help Practice Guide, which walks practitioners through the step-by-step graduated approach in Early Help.
We also offer additional resources, such as our Children’s Workforce Induction Pack, and links to local and national guidance around safeguarding, Early Help and information sharing.
Contacting the team
Contact the Early Help Consultants on email: [email protected], and a member of the team will respond to you; please provide your phone number if you would prefer a call back.
Delivering Early Help
Where you are taking on the lead worker role, send Our Family Support Needs and Plans and Team Around the Child and Family documentation to email: [email protected].
Where you are taking on the lead worker role, and after using the Our Family Support Needs and Plan Tool there is evidence of multiple support needs requiring a multi-agency response, please send the ‘Our Family Support Needs and Plan’ documentation to email: [email protected].
Records of Early Help assessments and Plans
We maintain a central record of the support a family has received so that we can help understand a family’s journey.
This means we can help link together agencies who might be working with the same family. It also means that if the family is referred to Family Help, it is clear what support has already been in place which can inform decision-making in the best interests of the child.
Raise York - Family Hub Network
Families and communities help to provide a foundation for children and young people to grow, develop and feel safe.
Raise York brings together children; young people; families; communities and professionals so everyone can get the connections, help and support they want and need.
The Raise York network is a key component of how our city comes together to deliver the Early Help Strategy. The Raise York partnership has developed tools and information for families and partners accessible through Raise York.
Family Information Service
The York Family Information Service (FIS) is a free and impartial information service for all parents and carers of children and young people aged 0 to 19 (or up to 25 for disabled children).
They can help with anything and everything around family life and being a young person including emotional health and wellbeing, Ofsted registered childcare for 0 – teens including school holiday clubs, activities and things to do and more. Practitioners can either signpost a parent/carer to FIS or make the initial contact as lead worker. Any question or unclear as to where to go, FIS is there to help and support to connect the family to the right service and/or guidance.
You can contact York Family Information Service on email: [email protected], by telephone: 01904 554444 (Monday to Friday, 10.00am to 4.00pm), or by text on telephone: 07860 042712.
York SEND Local Offer
The York SEND Local Offer sets out services and activities available to children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities; support is available from birth to 25 years. Their website provides helpful information for families, and resources for professionals working in SEN services.
Contact York SEND Local Offer on email: [email protected] for more information.
Communities and prevention
The City of York Council’s approach is to place ward and neighbourhood level working at the heart of building resilient communities, recognising that local people are best placed to understand and find solutions to the particular needs of their communities. The Council’s Communities and Prevention team, provide a focus on prevention, early help and asset-based community development, working across all life stages. The team take a strengths-based approach, seeing people as assets, recognising the core economy of friends, families and neighbours and building social networks and reciprocity.
The team will seek to build capacity in communities, mapping community assets with citizens and growing a culture of active citizenship and social action. It will also involve creating a wide-reaching early help network, involving other parts of the council, schools, primary care networks, other agencies and partners alongside citizens and communities in order to support children, young people and families who are at the edge of social care, through a universal early help offer. Our children’s centres have been reviewed to enable the co-design of new Family Hubs reflecting the ethos of the ‘supporting families agenda’, ‘best start in life’ and ‘working together’ policy developments.
Further information is available on the following websites: