How to use the EHA
Why you should do an Early Help Assessment
To begin with, you need to identify if the child or young person and their family, needs extra support.
An EHA might be needed when there are early indications that things are not going well. Early help engages a conversation about getting things going well again with a child, young person, parent or family:
Applying a whole family Early Help approach in the assessment means that:
- all aspects of life: home, work, school/college, social/community and health and wellbeing are taken into account
- the whole person/whole family situation and what matters most to them is understood
- the impact of what’s not working well on all family members is understood
- a family’s strengths are recognised and built on
- a person’s readiness to change is recognised so that support is offered at the right time
- practitioners ‘expertise’ judgement and advice are recognised
- the EHA can be used to coordinate support from partners as part of the agreed plan
- one form can be used for the whole family.
You can use the levels of need guidance on the Safeguarding Children in Stockport website to help you assess whether the child, young person and family needs extra support.
If you have identified a need for extra support you can move to the next stage of the process.