Family Support Information for Professionals (Early Help)

Early Help is about ensuring that children and families receive the support they need at the right time. Working Together to Safeguard Children (2015) defines Early Help as, "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."

Effective early help relies upon local agencies working together to:

• identify children and families who would benefit from early help
• undertake an assessment of the need for early help and
• provide targeted early help services to address the assessed needs of a child and their family which focuses on activity to significantly improve the outcomes for the child