The Early Help Assessment Journey. Request for Early Help Support Form. Support for OUR Early Help Partner Agencies. ©Manchester City Council

Early Support with the Early Help Journey. A strength based conversation that explores the five areas of life enables you and family members to identify where support is required and why Obtaining the voice of the child/young person reduces the risk of a chance being missed to help a child share something they are worried about. Your initial Early Help Assessment will provide the young person, family members and potential supporting agencies, with a clear understanding of What is working well, What could be better and What needs to happen next. For more information on completing an E.H.A please see the relevant presentation in this series, or visit our Early Help Practitioner web page: manchester.gov.uk/earlyhelppractitioner

Additional Support for Ongoing E.H.A’s Help and Support Manchester Access information on a wealth of supporting agencies/services. This web page can be recommended to families in order for them to explore potential support in areas that they feel things could be better: manchester.gov.uk/helpandsupportmanchester. (click here) All of our resources, for those, supporting families via an E.H.A, can be accessed via this web page: manchester.gov.uk/earlyhelppractitioner. (click here) You may be struggling to Engage a family with an E.H.A Identify a suitable supporting agency Have an E.H.A open for more than six months without any improvements. Please send us a copy of your registered E.H.A with a completed Request for Early Help Support Form. Return details can be found on the form itself. To access a copy of the Request for Early Help Form please click here.

Making a Request for Early Help Support You may be struggling to engage the family with an EHA. You and family members may be struggling to identify a suitable supporting agency, or an alternate lead professional. The young person or family may have given consent, yet struggle to engage with the agreed way forward. Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic and Timely planning, enables you to identify when further support from your local Early Help Hub may be required. Your current E.H.A may have been ongoing for a period of time, yet no progress is being achieved and the identified areas of need remain unmet. Access a copy of the Request for Early Help Support and much more from our dedicated webpage for professionals; manchester.gov.uk/earlyhelppractitionerzone

Completing the Request for Early Help Support Form. The form clearly shows, those agencies who may be contacted and information shared with as part of meeting the young persons or wider families identified areas of need. There is a more detailed explanation of what Parents and (where age appropriate) young people are agreeing to. Please remember to obtain a written copy of the Parent/Guardians signature evidencing their agreement. If you are struggling or have clearly been unable to gain agreement/consent, please contact your district Early Help Hub for further advice.

Consent /Agreement to engage with the Request for Early Help process. It is important that you and the family understand exactly what they are agreeing to. This must include any adult with parenting responsibility and where age appropriate, young people, themselves. The Agreement (section a) I understand that receiving Early Help support is voluntary and the information I give on this form will be shared with my local Early Help Hub to identify what support may be needed and to help plan support for me and my family. This may involve the sharing of my information with one or more of the following professionals / agencies where considered necessary so that they can help to plan and provide support for me and my family:- Education Providers e.g. nurseries, schools and colleges; Social Care services; Health- GPs or Health Visitors; Counselling Services; Housing Providers; Local Job Centres; Financial Advisors; Greater Manchester Police; Victim Support; Youth Justice and Probation Services; Voluntary and Community Sector Bodies. (Please see the complete form for the agreement in full)

Recording the Family Details It’s important that we get the Family details correct, so please do provide them. We are intending to contact the family as part of our triage process. The accurate recording of all children's details are required, as we will look to contact those agencies currently engaged in providing services and support to these children. This is part of gaining an holistic picture of circumstance. Additional details such as communication needs, help us to help families. We will look to contact any other agencies who are currently providing support or working with family members to ensure we offer support to the right family members at the right time.

Your view is important to us. Tell us what existing support is in place for the children and family. What resources do the family currently access. What do the family feel are the positives of their day to day lives. Let us know what you are worried about. Is anyone in the family currently or may in future risk suffering harm. What complications are making it difficult for you to deal with your worries. What changes need to happen to improve things for family members. What do you think would help to decrease any worries you have for members of the family. What type of help do you think the family would benefit from. It is important that your request is the result of a Strength based conversation having led to an E.H.A. Please send us a copy of the E.H.A with your completed Request form.

What happens to your Request for Early Help Support Allocations Meeting Triage E.H.A.T Where appropriate, we will gather additional information from other agencies We will contact the parent/carer. We will then decide on one of the following outcomes; Contact you with advice and information Allocate to our own Early Help Assessment Team. List for case discussion at our weekly allocations meeting The family may benefit from a short period of support from our Early Help Assessment Team. The team can provide additional support in overcoming barriers to progressing the E.H.A. If E.H.A.T become involved, the named worker will contact you. We may decide that due to the complex nature of the family circumstances, that a more targeted multi agency approach is required. Your requests will be explored by us, together with other partner agencies at our weekly, multi-agency (allocation) meeting. If your request is discussed in this fora, we will contact you in writing or by email to update you on the outcome

Key points to remember along the way. You can access several steps/stages of support with undertaking and completing an Early Help Assessment. Please make your self familiar with these. This can save you and a family time. A range of information and advice on progressing an E.H.A journey can be accessed on line via our Early Help Practitioner Zone web pages: manchester.gov.uk/earlyhelppractitioner When sending us a Request for Early Help Support, please also send us an up to date copy of the current E.H.A. In line with General Data Protection Regulation look to gain consent from the parent/s prior to sending us your request.

The Early Help Assessment Journey. Request for Early Help Support Form. Support for OUR Early Help Partner Agencies. ©Manchester City Council