Our Early Help Offer
Early Help is interventions that are offered to all our pupils to prevent problems developing and it targets support to particular children and families with additional needs.
The purpose of Early Help is to support the well-being of children and families by tackling emerging needs at the earliest opportunity and prevent them from getting worse. This means working with you to identify any support you may need and gain access to additional services that can promote positive outcomes.
Effective Early Help may be delivered at any point in your child’s life about any issue which is impacting or could affect their development and well-being, including education and health.
Working Together to Safeguard Children – a Guide to Inter-agency Working to Safeguard and Promote the Welfare of Children 2018 identifies that supporting children to achieve positive outcomes is more effective when local agencies work together to:
- Identify children and families who would benefit from Early Help
- Undertake an assessment with you (known in Bolton as the Early Help Assessment)
- Provide Early Help services to address the assessed needs of a child and their family to improve outcomes for the child
We will ensure that we:
- Gain your consent and are open and honest;
- Seek your views and opinions;
- With your consent, work jointly with other professionals and services already working with your family;
- Empower you to gain positive outcomes;
- Allocate a Lead person to help co-ordinate any support;
- Consider the age and stage of your child’s development to make sure that actions are appropriate and also inform our expectations and concerns;
- Keep you and your child involved and informed.
Early help and working together – Bolton Safeguarding Children