Joint Strategic Needs Assessment: early help

Early help is an approach that supports the identification of and response to emerging problems that children, young people and their families face at any point in the child’s journey from birth into adulthood.

It is a way of working that supports families to overcome these challenges and avoids things becoming worse and having long-lasting, negative consequences that are harder to resolve.

There is evidence that early intervention leads to more positive and sustainable outcomes for children, young people and their families. Timely and flexible support prevents escalation of need and referrals into other services such as Children's Social Care.

Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, there is a continuum of support in the local offer for families. Not all children’s needs require a multi-agency response, and statutory social care services may not always be necessary.

Early help is provided through a range of different services and provides support across levels 1- 3 of Buckinghamshire’s Continuum of Need document. The continuum of need sets out our approach to keeping children in Buckinghamshire safe and protected from harm. In addition, it provides a framework to support all professionals and agencies who work with children and young people in Buckinghamshire, to identify when help or protection is needed through a graduated response from universal or targeted early help through to specialist and statutory services. Across the continuum of need we want professionals to be confident that the right help is given to the right children at the right time and for the right duration.