Early Help
Early help is provided to children, young people and families who are struggling and feel in need of some additional support and to those who research tells us are at a higher than average risk of experiencing problems.
The aim of early help services is to ideally prevent but otherwise to resolve any issues before they become more serious and require specialist support.
The Isle of Wight Children and Young People’s Strategic partnership recognises that the best outcomes are achieved when a combination of services work together to ensure that the whole family are able to work towards better life chances of their children.
Why we have early help services and who they are available to.
One of our main sources of local data is the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) that is carried out every year in partnership with health services. This tells us about the current needs of children, young people and families on the island and anticipates future need. Most crucially it identifies groups whose needs are not being met and who are experiencing poor outcomes. This information informs the design and focus of our services and our commissioning priorities.
Concerns about how well a child or young person is progressing may be raised by a professional, parent/carer or the child/young person themselves.
An Early Help Assessment (EHA) is then used to identify their needs. EHA is a standardised shared assessment and planning framework for use across all children’s services and all local areas in England. At the centre of the development of the EHA is the principle that it is child/young person centred, and can be shared across agencies and between professionals as appropriate, and with the family/young person’s permission.
The use of EHA facilitates early identification of needs, leading to co-ordinated provision of services, involving a lead professional, and sharing information to avoid duplication of assessments.
Access to early help services
Many of these services are available in the community, through schools, health services and voluntary organisations. You can look at the links in this section of the website to find out contact details of the organisations.
As of 1 April 2015 the Isle of Wight Council has commissioned Barnardo's to be the provider of integrated early help services for 0-19 years.
Access to Strengthening Families Programme
Strengthening Families Programme (SFP) is the Isle of Wight’s response to the national 'Troubled Families' initiative. It is a key component of the Early Help offer of services designed to reduce or prevent specific problems from getting worse and becoming deep seated or entrenched.
The programme covers the whole Island and the intensive support is delivered by the charity called Barnardo’s. It focuses on families who are currently experiencing complex difficulties. For more information about the Strengthening Families Programme please click here.
If you are concerned about a child or you need information about children’s services, please get in touch by using the 'Contacts' tab above.