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RCGP Safeguarding toolkit

Part 3B: Responding to concerns about child abuse

Early help

Early help and early intervention are forms of support aimed at improving outcomes for children or preventing escalating need or risk. Because of this they are also sometimes referred to as prevention or preventative services.

Early help is support for children of all ages, that improves a family’s resilience and outcomes or reduces the chance of a problem getting worse. It is not an individual service, but a system of support delivered by local authorities and their partners working together and taking collective responsibility to provide the right provision in their area.

Some early help is provided through ’universal services’, such as education and health services. They are universal services because they are available to all families, regardless of their needs. Other early help services are coordinated by a local authority and/or their partners to address specific concerns within a family and can be described as targeted early help. Examples of these include parenting support, mental health support, youth services, youth offending teams and housing and employment services.

Early help may be appropriate for children and families who have several needs, or whose circumstances might make them more vulnerable.

Early help is a voluntary approach, requiring the family’s consent to receive support and services offered.

Early help and early intervention services can be provided at any stage in a child or young person's life, from the early years right through to adolescence. Services can be delivered to parents, children, or whole families.

Professionals should be alert to the potential need for early help for a child who:

  • is disabled
  • has special educational needs (whether or not they have a statutory education, health and care plan - EHCP)
  • is a young carer
  • is bereaved
  • is showing signs of being drawn into anti-social or criminal behaviour, including being affected by gangs and county lines and organised crime groups and/or serious violence, including knife crime
  • is frequently missing/goes missing from care or from home
  • is at risk of modern slavery, trafficking, sexual and/or criminal exploitation
  • is at risk of being radicalised
  • is viewing problematic and/or inappropriate online content (for example, linked to violence), or developing inappropriate relationships online
  • is in a family circumstance presenting challenges for the child, such as drug and alcohol misuse, adult mental health issues and domestic abuse
  • is misusing drugs or alcohol themselves
  • is suffering from mental ill health
  • has returned home to their family from care
  • is a privately fostered child
  • has a parent or carer in custody
  • is missing education, or persistently absent from school, or not in receipt of full-time education
  • has experienced multiple suspensions and is at risk of or has been permanently excluded.

Professionals should also have consideration for specific needs such as family members who may have learning difficulties/disabilities or those whose first language is not English, are care experienced, young parents, fathers or male carers, and parents who identify as LGBTQI+.

What if a family does not consent to an early help assessment?

In these situations, professionals should seek to understand why this is the case so they can provide reassurance to the family about their concerns.

They should ensure the family has understood the consensual nature of support, and range of services available to meet their needs. The professional should consider how the needs of the child could otherwise be met, for example, through provision by universal services that the family already engages with. The family should also be reviewed regularly and if there are indicators that the situation is deteriorating, consideration needs to be given as to whether a safeguarding referral is now indicated.

Professionals then need to consider if there are concerns that a child has suffered, or is likely to suffer, significant harm and therefore they suspect child abuse. If so, a safeguarding referral should be made using the locally agreed multi-agency referral pathways. This does not require consent (under the common law – see Part 5 of the toolkit for further information). If professionals are considering child abuse as a possibility, they should follow step 4 as set out in the five step process of responding to concerns about child abuse in the previous section.

References