Early Help Guidance: Integrated Working With Children, Young People and Families With Vulnerable or Complex Needs

This guidance is for staff in all agencies, organisations and professional groups whose work brings them into contact with children, young people and families; either in a paid or voluntary capacity. The Early Help System brings partners together in Rotherham to ensure that they are compliant with guidance provided in Working Together to Safeguard Children.

This practice guidance relates to working with children, young people and/or their families in Rotherham who are vulnerable or have complex needs, not those who are suffering, or likely to suffer Significant Harm. It is underpinned by the Rotherham Continuum of need:

If a child or children are suffering, or are likely to suffer significant harm, then safeguarding policies and procedures apply - see Referring Safeguarding Concerns about Children.

The guidance is informed by the Rotherham Multi-Agency Continuum of Need Guidance and the Multi-Agency Threshold Descriptors.

The aims of this guidance are to:

• Improve outcomes for children, young people and their families;
• Ensure a common understanding of integrated working practice and a shared terminology and practice between workers and agencies;
• Ensure that there is consistency and agreement in practice across all local agencies in their approach to working with children, young people and their families with vulnerable or complex needs;
• Embed collaborative processes and procedures in place to identify children, young people and families who need Early Help, and ensure shared responsibility in the use of the Early Help Assessment;
• Work in partnership with parents and carers, using a restorative relationship of high support and high challenge, with the child’s lived experience at the heart of all early help support.

The purpose of the guidance is to:

• Explain key definitions and concepts of Early Help;
• Outline the theory and practice of integrated working;
• Underpin the Rotherham Continuum of Need and the multi-agency process for dealing with identified needs and/or shared concerns about a child, young person and/or their family which do not amount to Significant Harm;
• Define the specific purposes for which agencies have agreed threshold levels and share information to meet their responsibilities to protect and safeguard children in need, and to promote their welfare;
• Set out the responsibilities of agencies to implement internal arrangements to meet the requirements of the model;
• Promote public trust, through transparency and accountability of approach in the management and handling of personal information;
• Support individual and organisational legal compliance, to ensure best management practice.

The following principles should be applied at all times when working with all children, young people and their families:

• Services provided should be flexible, easily accessed and of good quality;
• Facilities should be made available to address the physical and emotional needs of children and young people requiring support;
• Each agency should have clear, coherent and comprehensive policies and procedures to respond to the initial contact, referral and assessment processes, and provision of services, all of which involve families in deciding how their needs will be best met, for more information, see Referring Safeguarding Concerns about Children Procedure;
• Assessment, plans and reviews of children, young people and their families' needs should be carried out in accordance with regulation and guidance, and should include clear objectives and a record of steps taken to achieve these;
• The communication needs of all children, young people and their families should be met when they have contact with any agency. Information about available services should always be provided in ways which they can understand;
• All agencies should have non-discriminatory service delivery and recruitment and employment practices which underpin a commitment to equal opportunities;
• Workers should not be afraid to ask for help to accept assistance, or to escalate concerns if processes are failing;
• Assumptions should not be made about how a particular family works or receives support;
• Where there is concern about the immediate safety of a child or young person, ringing the police as appropriate, and concerns should be referred to MASH (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub) see Key and Local Contacts. For more information, see Referring Safeguarding Concerns about Children.

Integrated working is outlined in the statutory guidance supporting Section 10 (inter-agency co-operation) and Section 11 (safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children) of the Children Act 2004. Integrated working is key to ensuring good outcomes for children, young people and their families. Practice is also informed by Working Together to Safeguard Children.

There are several common aims to Early Help, including:

• To promote early intervention to assist children, young people and families who have vulnerable or complex needs and are therefore vulnerable to poor outcomes;
• To share information and complete holistic assessments;
• To plan and deliver SMART, planned interventions in response to need at the earliest opportunity;

• To provide services to improve outcomes for children, young people and families;
• To review and measure outcomes for children, young people and families;
• To establish a common language to describe children's development and circumstances;
• To work in partnership with children, young people and families in the assessment process;
• To avoid repeat interviewing of children and families and duplication in assessment processes;
• To have a confident workforce, trained and supported to deliver high quality services to children, young people and families in Rotherham;
• To standardise, streamline and ensure a high quality of record keeping;
• To use technology to assist practitioners to work effectively and deliver timely assessment and plans.

Problems can occur at any time in children's lives and our services need to be responsive to emerging needs at all ages. Early Help is not just aimed at preventing abuse or neglect but at ensuring the best start and improving the life chances of all children and young people, by working with their families. There are nine integrated Early Help Teams based across three localities - North, South and Central - who can provide advice and support for the whole family on issues such as:

1. Parenting and behaviour management;
2. Emotional wellbeing;
3. Substance misuse;
4. Domestic abuse;
5. Financial advice and support, housing and progression to work;
6. Staying safe – outdoors and online.

Early Help teams and the services that they provide are accessed when issues become complex and require targeted additional family support. If a Lead Professional has carried out the EHA and offered support but progress is not being made, they can contact the MASH to discuss securing additional, targeted Early Help support or escalating to Children’s Social Care for statutory intervention.

It is important to address identified need through multi-agency Early Help approaches wherever possible. The aim is to prevent crises, to avoid entrenched situations, and high level services being inappropriately introduced to the detriment of children, young people and their families.

An important principle of integrated working is that a request for involvement of other services for a child, young person or family does not mean a transfer of responsibility; it involves shared responsibility and joined up services.

All Early Help Assessments will be co-ordinated by a named Lead Professional who can be from a range of agencies e.g. health, schools, voluntary sector or Early Help.

The progress of the Early Help Assessment should be monitored regularly and discussed through respective line management and supervision arrangements of the Lead Professional. An agency's overall participation in this integrated working framework will be monitored by Rotherham Safeguarding Children Partnership, through its auditing process.

When concerns affecting a child and family no longer require statutory involvement it is important that good progress is sustained. When Children’s Social Care intends to step out of a case, it is important to discuss with the child, family and professionals involved to agree a structured step down process to Early Help targeted or universal services.

The Social Worker should ensure an effective handover to Early Help provision and seek agreement on who the Lead Professional will be. When a decision is made that Children’s Social Care will step out, (and joint agreement from Children’s Social Care and Early Help is given) assessments and plans (where in place) should be shared that contain clear actions defined for the new Lead Professional.

The Social Worker that is stepping out holds responsibility to carry out a joint visit with the new Early Help Lead Professional. The visit should take place within 10 working days of the panel and the family should be informed by the Social Worker to confirm arrangements.

The Early Help Lead Professional should then start to work with the child/family immediately following the actions identified and work to transfer the Social Work Assessment to the Early Help Assessment paperwork. The Early Help Lead Professional should ensure that key actions are implemented and that the assessment process remains seamless and new concerns are discussed, addressed and escalated appropriately at TAF or review meetings. Further guidance can be found in the Early Help & Children’s Social Care Co-Working Framework.

All agencies working with children, young people and families should ensure that case recording is an integral part of case management. Each partner agency will have individual case recording arrangements, which will be either a local or national system. Timely case recording is an essential part of case work, and should be supervised by Line Managers. Case records can also be monitored by Rotherham Safeguarding Children Partnership as part of the auditing process.

It is critical that all practitioners working with children, young people and their families are in no doubt that where they have reasonable cause to suspect that a child or young person may be suffering or likely to suffer significant harm, they must refer their concerns to MASH (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub) see Key and Local Contacts (and the police if it is an emergency or a crime is being committed). For more information, see Referring Safeguarding Concerns about Children.

You should always seek to discuss any concerns with the child, young person and their family. However, inability to make contact should not delay or prevent referral being made. Circumstances where you should not seek consent are covered in paragraph 3.2.

The Multi-Agency Threshold Descriptors should be used to help identify indicators of risk in the context of the Rotherham Continuum of Need.

There will be occasional circumstances where consent is not required, for example, where to do so would:

• Place a child or young person at increased risk of Significant Harm;
• Place an adult at risk of serious harm, e.g. domestic abuse;

• Prejudice the prevention or detection of serious crime;
• Lead to unjustified delay in making enquiries about allegations of harm;
• There is a statutory duty or court order to share information;
• The public interest justifies disclosing confidential information without consent.

Advice should be sought from your Line Manager, or your organisation's safeguarding lead officer, when a decision to share information without consent is being considered.

Early Help is a consent based service and this should be sought from the family prior to submitting a Request for Support or submitting the case for Step Down.

Consent should be sought where appropriate from a young person who has the capacity to understand and make their own decisions and who may give (or refuse) consent to information about them being shared.

Young people can request support directly and would be encouraged to involve their parent(s) or carer(s) unless to do so would place them at risk of harm.

Additional guidance and protocols on confidentiality, consent and information sharing - as well as the legal and statutory duties - are available to support and facilitate appropriate information sharing for all agencies that provide services to children, young people and their families in Rotherham. For further information, see Information Sharing Procedure.

Early Help & Family Engagement - 10 Assessment Practice Standards

A good whole family assessment will be outcome focussed and based on robust analysis. It will evidence:

1. Child and Family Views

The views of all family members and significant others, whether living in the family home or not, should be evident in the assessment, for example, it may include references to conversations or direct quotes from parents/carers/children/young people. The assessment should always prioritise the needs of the children.

2. Timeliness

Initial contact should be sought with children and families within a 72 hour timeframe. Assessments should be started within 10 days of receipt of the referral/request for support and completed and recorded. Any decision to extend timescales must be approved by a manager and should be clearly recorded.

3. Multi-disciplinary / agency contributions

The assessment should be completed in collaboration with other professionals previously or currently involved with the family; this should include both adult and children’s services and records/chronologies should inform all assessments.

4. Strength based

The assessment should outline clearly both the strengths and needs for individuals within the family as a whole.

5. Baseline data

The assessment should include clear baseline information to evidence the required change and provide a baseline from which to report outcomes. The data will also provide a holistic picture to inform the TAF (team around the family) (e.g. school attendance, level of anti-social behaviour, developmental milestones).

6. Analyse and identify priorities

The assessment should outline and prioritise the overall strengths and needs for the family through analysis of information gained. The assessment should identify priority areas to be addressed. Outcomes for families will be mutually agreed, with the family and professionals who make up the team around the family.

7. Next steps

The assessment should include a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time bound) plan for the first TAF meeting (e.g. date, proposed TAF members, childcare, venue, interpreter, etc.) This will include clear actions/outputs for the child/family alongside professionals.

8. Impact and Outcome Focussed

Targets will be clear and jargon free and assessments will define what success measures (outcomes) will look like. The focus should always be on outcomes rather than outputs or actions completed.

9. Protected Characteristics

The assessment should include (where relevant) information relating to the GGRRAACCEESS (Gender, Generational, Race, Religion, Abilities, Age, Culture, Class, Education, Ethnicity, Sexuality, Spirituality).

10. Quality Assurance

The assessment should be shared and discussed with line manager for comment, direction and approval. Assessments will be subject to quality assurance checks along with other case information.

The following principles of equality and diversity should apply:

1. All children / young people have a right to grow up safe from harm;
2. All children / young people can potentially be subject to abuse and neglect, regardless of their age, gender, race, culture, physical or learning disabilities, sexual identity or sexual orientation;
3. The assessment process should maintain a focus on the needs of the individual child / young person;
4. The presence of equalities issues, as outlined above, neither explains nor condones acts of omission or commission which results in a child suffering, or being likely to suffer, significant harm;
5. Professionals should guard against myths and stereotypes - both positive and negative - of children / young people and / or their families with equalities issues;
6. Anxiety about being accused of racist, or other discriminatory practice, should not prevent the necessary action being taken to safeguard a child / young person;
7. Abuse to a child / young person may be disguised by a disability. Therefore workers need to be aware of issues related to disabilities when undertaking assessments (see Safeguarding Disabled Children);
8. Workers should be sensitive to differing family patterns and lifestyles, and to child rearing patterns that vary across different groups;
9. Workers should be aware of social factors that serve to discriminate against different groups of families;
10. Working in a diverse society requires workers and organisations to be committed to equality in meeting the needs of all children / young people and families;
11. Workers need to understand the effects of harassment, discrimination and institutional discrimination, as well as cultural misunderstanding or misinterpretations.