Early Help
Our Early Help partnership is ambitious for the children and young people in Walsall.
We are committed to ensuring children and young people:
- have the best possible start
- are safe from harm
- are happy and healthy
- are where they will thrive emotionally, physically and mentally
- achieve their potential
Everyone needs a little help at times, if you’re worried about a child or young person, or want to make changes in your life, Walsall Early Help partnership is here to support you.
Early Help is the support we give to children, young people and their families when they need extra help with a whole range of individual, social, health and education concerns.
Support is provided to the ‘whole family’ to ensure the right help at the right time is available and as a partnership we work together with families.
Early Help is voluntary and consent from children, young people and their families to work with should always be agreed.
Working together as early as possible, regardless of the child or young person’s age can positively improve outcomes.
Early Help is a partnership approach, not a provision, and very much relies on local agencies working together with families. As we like to say:
“Early Help is everybody’s business and responsibility “
Early Help Strategy Approach and Response 2021-2024 Download PDF (3.55 MB)
Our approach is:
- whole system
- consistent
- led by children, young people and families
- inclusive and enabling
- strength and evidence based
- honest and ambitious
- locally based
- learning and reflective
- effective, whole family support to prevent escalation into statutory services
We want our families to thrive, build resilience and have ambition. We aim to:
- create the space for services to work together proactively
- identify and solve problems rather than reacting to crises
Our model is:
- relationship based
- inclusive and enabling, keeping families at the heart of what we do
- reflective – reviewed continually to understand demand and strengths, and identify emerging needs
Helping families achieve their full potential
Our support is based on individual need. We identify needs using an Early Help assessment and take a whole family approach.
Our goal is to improve the quality of family life, help children perform better at school and enjoy good mental health.
We work with other agencies to:
- identify children and families that need help
- understand what Early Help they need
- deliver the targeted support needed to help improve outcomes for the whole family
Who provides the support?
The Early Help partnership includes:
- schools
- school nurses
- speech and language therapists
- Early Help family support practitioners
- targeted youth workers
- housing officers
- youth justice service
- community safety officers
- NHS staff
- voluntary and community services
Walsall Early Help Multi-Agency Partnership Supporting Families Early Help Approach, Priority Needs & Outcome Framework Practitioners Guide 2023-2025
For more information about Walsall Early Help please see our Early Help Website