Early Help

What is Early Help?

Early Help means providing support as soon as a problem appears, to stop it from getting worse. This could be at any point in a child’s life, from birth to the teenage years. Anyone can provide early help – you don’t need to be an expert professional. Early help is not about passing the issue on to an expert, but thinking about what is the best support you can offer.

You can provide effective support by:

• listening
• working with other people who could help
• finding out about specialist agencies who could help
• filling out an Early Help Assessment with the person you are helping
• contacting Children’s Social Care if you think the problem is more serious