Early help definition

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.
Early help means providing support as any needs emerge or are identified at any point in a pupil’s life.
Early help means providing support as soon as a problem emerges at any point in a child’s life. It relates to those children and young people at risk of harm (but who have not yet reached the “significant harm” threshold and for whom a preventative service would reduce the likelihood of that risk or harm escalating). Early help requires a collaborative approach from all agencies, including schools, with the active involvement of children, young people, families and carers. Anychild may benefit from early help, but all school and college staff should be particularly alert to the potential need for early help for a child who: is disabled and has specific additional needs; has special educational needs (whether or not they have a statutory education, health and care plan); is a young carer; is showing signs of being drawn in to anti-social or criminal behaviour, including gang involvement and association with organised crime groups; is frequently missing/goes missing from care or from home; is misusing drugs or alcohol themselves; is at risk of modern slavery, trafficking or exploitation; is in a family circumstance presenting challenges for the child, such as substance abuse, adult mental health problems or domestic abuse; has returned home to their family from care; is showing early signs of abuse and/or neglect; is at risk of being radicalised or exploited; is a privately fostered child (Keeping Children Safe in Education, DFE, 2018)

Examples of Early help in a sentence

  • Storing information Early Help information is stored on Liquid Logic, through the Early Help Module (EHM).

  • If a family withdraws their agreement to accessing Early Help, the parent / carer is required to put this into writing this and give to their Lead Professional.

  • Once the Family Agreement is signed, families are agreeing to accessing Early Help Support across the Partnership and they are agreeing for their information to be recorded and stored within Liquid Logic.


More Definitions of Early help

Early help means providing support as soon as a problem emerges, at any point in achild’s life, from the foundation years to teenage years. • Harm is ill treatment or impairment of health and development, including impairment suffered from seeing or hearing the ill treatment of another. • Safeguarding children is the action we take to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm. • Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as:• protecting children from maltreatment• preventing the impairment of children’s mental health, physical health or development• ensuring the children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care• taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes School staff are particularly important, as they are in a position to identify concerns early, provide help for children, promote children’s welfare and prevent concerns from escalating (KCSIE 2023) A bespoke helpline is available for children and young people who’ve experienced abuse at school, and for worried adults and professionals that need support and guidance. If you are concerned about something, you can contact the NSPCC helpline Report Abuse in Education on 0800 136 663 or email help@nspcc.org.uk • Significant harm is the threshold that justifies compulsory intervention in the family inthe best interests of the child. Section 47 of the Children Act 1989 states ‘where thequestion of whether harm suffered by a child is significant turns on the child’s health ordevelopment; his health or development shall be compared with that which couldreasonably be expected of a similar child.’ • Vulnerable children: Any child may benefit from Early Help and the Locality Community Support Service (LCSS) - Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board (oscb.org.uk) but all school and college staff should be particularly alert to the potential need for early help for a child who:• is disabled and has specific additional needs• has special educational needs (whether they have a statutory Education, Health and Care Plan)• is a young carer• is showing signs of being drawn in to anti-social or criminal behaviour, including gang involvement and association with organised crime groups• is frequently missing/goes missing from care or from home• is at risk of modern slavery, trafficking or exploitation• is at risk of being radicalised or exploited Updated August 2023 by the Education Safeguarding Advisory Team
Early help means providing support as soon as a problem emerges, at any point in achild’s life.
Early help means providing support as soon as a problem emerges, at any point in a child's life from the foundation stage to the teenage years. Chapter 1 of Working Together to Safeguard Children provides detailed guidance on the early help process.
Early help means providing help for children, young people, and families as soon as problems start to emerge or where it is likely that issues will impact negatively on children’s outcomes. Early Help services can also provide help for families when they are already involved with statutory and specialist services to support them to no longer require this level of involvement. This can mean support to individuals, families, and communities to do more for themselves. This reduces dependency, but stresses independence and self-referral as means of accessing early support when needed. Effective early help relies upon local agencies working together to identify children and families who would benefit by assessing their needs and providing targeted services in response to identified needs.
Early help means taking action to support a child, young person or their family as soon as a problem emerges. It can be required at any stage in a child's life and applies to any problem or need that the family can't deal with alone. Early help can lead to better outcomes for children, prevent problems escalating or overwhelming families, create social mobility and support communities to thrive.
Early help means: taking action to support a child, young person or their family early in the life of a problem, as soon as it emerges.
Early help means we ensure needs are identified quickly and support is provided as soon as a problem emerges. It can be required at any stage in a child’s life. The aim of early help is to reduce or eliminate the need for support and to promote resilience in the child and family. Early help services draw upon multiagency expertise and are delivered in a timely and responsive way, to promote wellbeing and positive outcomes for children and families.”