Buckinghamshire Early Help Practice Standards

This document seeks to bring together a set of Practice Standards which are applicable across all agencies providing Early Help to children, young people and their families across Buckinghamshire.

Working Together to Safeguard Children states that:

Early help

1. Providing early help is more effective in promoting the welfare of children than reacting later. 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 can also prevent further problems arising, for example, if it is provided as part of a support plan where a child has returned home to their family from care.

2. Effective early help relies upon local agencies working together to:

• identify children and families who would benefit from early help;

• undertake an assessment of the need for early help; and

• provide targeted early help services to address the assessed needs of a child and their family which focuses on activity to significantly improve the outcomes for the child. Local authorities, under section 10 of the Children Act 2004, have a responsibility to promote inter-agency cooperation to improve the welfare of children.

The Ofsted Improvement Plan 2014 for Buckinghamshire requires “that the local authority and partners coordinate and target early help effectively, so that families receive support when their need is first identified”

This document should be read in conjunction with the following Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children’s Board documents:

  • Accessing Services for Children in Buckinghamshire – Thresholds Document
  • Thresholds Guidance
  • Buckinghamshire Multi-Agency Early Help Strategy
  • Buckinghamshire Multi-Agency Early Help Offer
  • Individual agency Codes of Conduct, Professional Standards, Policies and Procedures

Overarching Practice Standards

  • The voice of the child is listened to, recorded and impacts on decisions
  • The safeguarding and welfare of the child is the focus for all that we do
  • The families we work with are treated with respect and honesty and kept informed throughout any intervention
  • The strengths of the families as well as concerns will be assessed and used to safeguard any child
  • The work with children and their families will be based on the achievement of identified improved outcomes that are measurable
  • At all times due regard is taken of the race, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexuality, religion and communication needs of the child and their family.

My responsibilities as a front line worker with children and families

Referral and Assessment

  • I will arrange, wherever possible, to visit the child/family with the referring agency to discuss the reason for the referral
  • I will ensure that I have received consent from the child/family to sharing information with other agencies in order to support them
  • I will inform the child and their family that I am the named worker for them and I have given them details of how to contact me including when I am not at work
  • I will clearly explain to the child and their family about myrole, the purpose of my involvement and what support and intervention I and my agency can offer.
  • I will record the reason for undertaking the assessment of the child and family on the case note database system for my agency, including an overview of the protective factors, risks, issues and concerns evident for the children in the family.
  • I will contact relevant agencies involved with the child and family and obtain their views to inform the assessment process.
  • I will use appropriate tools including genograms to identify trends, patterns and the family history to understand how this may have impacted upon the life of the child and their family

Planning

  • I willdevelop anintervention action plan with the child and their family.
  • The plan will focus on the strengths in the child and family as well as addressing any concerns.
  • The plan will include clear outcome measures to show progress.
  • I will ensure there is a clear exit plan that is shared with the family, and they understand where they can access further or future appropriate support.

Intervention

  • I will work closely with the child and their family to ensure that their plan is achieved
  • I will see the child/family regularly in line with the requirements of my agency
  • I will review the child/family progress regularly with them
  • I will continue to discuss the child and their family with other relevant agencies through regular reviews
  • I will ensure communication with internal colleagues and external agencies is clear, comprehensive, effective and evidenced
  • I will refer to statutory agencies in cases where a child may be at risk of significant harm.
  • I will work to provide good quality support to children and their families, linking them into other universal or specialist services when appropriate
  • I will focus on the family’sfunctioning, their resilience and will build on their own capabilities to solve problems.
  • I will use supervision and team meetings as appropriate to reflect on my feelings about the child’s circumstances, to review the plan and to ensure that I am putting the child first in my considerations
  • I will ensure my work is targeted and timely in order to avoid delay and drift.

Recording

  • I will ensure that the journey of the child is clear in the record
  • I will ensure that all records are respectful of the child and their family
  • I will be careful in my recording to distinguish between fact and opinion
  • I will ensure that I follow the quality standards of my agency in all recording