Early Help Assessment

 

How an Early Help Assessment can Help You

An Early Help Assessment (EHA) starts with a chat between you and a Professional who may already be involved with your child. It can be an opportunity to talk about things that are worrying you, such as things at home with your family, health, or finances. An EHA is a good way for us to work together to ensure you receive the right support at the right time.

 

 

 

 

What an Early help Assessment is

After your first discussion with the Professional involved, it may be that an Early Help Assessment (EHA) is needed. With your consent, an EHA will be completed with you by a Professional. It will highlight the strengths of your family, the areas you feel could be better, and any worries you may have about you or your family. After deciding together what support you need, you and the Professional will create an action plan about what happens next.

All families have a 'Lead Professional' who is the main person that works with the family and keeps them updated. They are responsible for holding meetings, recording discussions, and making sure that your plan is working.

If a young person wants to complete an EHA without the consent of their parents, then the professionals involved need to use the Fraser Guidelines to help assess whether a child has the maturity to make their own decisions, and to understand the implications of those decisions.

If you wish to see a copy of what the initial EHA can look like, and what they include, you can it download it here by clicking on the buttons.
 

Review Meetings

After The Early Help Assessment has been started, review meetings will take place around every 6 weeks to ensure that the action plan is working, and to see what else needs to happen.

Voice of the Child

It is important that your whole family are involved in the Early Help Assessment. As well as your perspective, it is vital that your children are included as well, to capture 'The Voice of the Child' which means to understand their views, their wishes and feelings and make sure that (where possible) their views are acted on as part of the action plan.

Consent

The EHA review or meeting documents will not take place or be shared without your consent. We recommend that the EHA be shared with the people involved, as information sharing between agencies is important to assist the process, and will mean that you receive a complete service.

Support Services, Consent, and GDPR

Support Agencies and Their Role

Several support agencies work with the Early Help Service to discuss the worries that you and your family have asked for help with. This helps us to get you and your family the right support, at the right time, by the right service. Once discussed, someone will contact you to explain their role and the support that is available.

Do you Need my Consent to Discuss my Family?

To ensure you have the right support, we will need your consent as the Parent/Carer of the child(ren) to share your information. If a young person wants support without the consent of their parents/carers, then the professionals involved need to use the Fraser Guidelines.

GDPR

The Early Help Access Point will hold information about you and your family which will include Names, Dates of Birth, Address and contact details, and a record of what has been discussed. We will always ensure we follow General Data Protection Regulations, which means we will store your information safely and securely. There may be times when the Law requires us to share information without asking your consent, for example, if there was any safeguarding concerns or to prevent a crime.

The Early Help Assessment Advisor Numbers

You can speak to The Early Help Assessment Advisors for more information and advice by contacting them on 0161 342 4040

 

If You Are Worried About a Child

If the situation is immediately dangerous for the child then ring 999 and ask for the Police.