Early help assessment
Lincolnshire’s early help strategy (2021) outlines the importance of exploring worries with children, young people, and their families at the earliest opportunity to ensure the right support is offered and prevent worries growing. The early help pathway reflects the best place to start exploring these worries is in conversation with the child or young person, family, and support network to understand what life currently looks like for them.
Lincolnshire’s early help assessment (EHA) is how we explore these open and honest conversations with families in Lincolnshire.
By using the EHA as a conversation tool, it is possible to gain an understanding of the impact of holistic factors, in an open and honest way with the child or young person and those who are important to them. It is important to take time to gain a full understanding of worries which may be impacting on the child’s well-being and the current strengths that can be built upon to address the worries, as well as who is in the child or young person’s support network and what needs to happen next to support the child. There is guidance on completing an EHA with a family within the EBSA Toolkit. Your setting’s early help consultant can also offer advice on this.
Completion of the EHA is encouraged as the initial tool where there are early concerns relating to possible EBSA. These conversations will help you to determine if the child or young person is displaying EBSA as opposed to truancy or parentally condoned absence so you can decide which pathway to follow. It will then also help determine the next steps to be put in place to avoid those early warning signs deteriorating into EBSA.
Once the EHA has been completed with the child or young person and family, it is important to plan what happens next. The early help pathway reflects the importance of multi-agency working, as well as involving the support network, in planning actions with the child or young person and their family. Lincolnshire’s multi-agency approach is called Team Around the Child (TAC).
Once you have completed the EHA with the child or young person and their family, you will need to discuss their right to TAC as a way forward in planning how they and their support network will work together to address the worries and move towards their goals. A child or young person’s TAC works alongside the EBSA pathway to support the wider holistic needs impacting on a child or young person’s well-being. TAC is a voluntary process, and so it is important to explore if the family consent to this. A leaflet for families about TAC is included within the EBSA toolkit.
TAC reviews should be completed every six-eight weeks to explore the progress made, celebrate success, update on new worries or information, discuss barriers to progress and agree further actions. The TAC handbook is included in the EBSA toolkit and provides advice on the role of the lead professional. Your setting’s early help consultant can also offer advice on this. They also offer case advice to TAC lead professionals to support professional curiosity and robust planning.