Section 11 audit guidance

Question 7.3 - If appropriate do staff know when to under-take or make a referral for an Early Help Assessment formerly known as CAFs? 

An early help assessment helps you to capture your assessment of the current needs of a child/young person and their family. It should be completed in partnership with the child/young person and their parents/carers. The assessment is used to agree next steps in order to access appropriate early help support and co-ordinate services. This is primarily intended to be used for a multi-agency assessment, however could also be used for a single agency assessment. This should be kept on the child/young person’s file by the lead professional and also uploaded to MOSAIC if you have access.

An Early Help Request form should be completed to make a request for early help support through and Early Help Hub or cluster, for a child/young person, or to refer a child or young person to an early help support service.  This includes Restorative Early Support, Multi-Systemic Therapy, Signpost or Family Together Leeds.  On completion the form should be submitted to the appropriate service. 

These forms are available by emailing families.first@leeds.gov.uk
 

Workforce development opportunities are available and include:

• Early Help training – There are a number of training opportunities available in relation to early help. For more information contact  michelle.cunningham@leeds.gov.uk
• Early Help Qualification – The Level 3 Early Intervention Qualification is a multi-agency qualification equivalent to an A level. For more information contact nina.sinclair@leeds.gov.uk
• Parental Conflict training – For more information contact nina.sinclair@leeds.gov.uk.
• Rethink Formulation – for more information contact rethink.team@leeds.gov.uk, and see the one minute guide or visit Rethink Top Concern Approach.

See our Early Help pages for further information on the Early Help approach and contact details for early help support services.