Dudley Early Help

‘Working together to help Children, Young People and their Families thrive’ 

To make the vision a reality we will ensure we all provide:  

• The right approach, in the right place, at the right time
• So that children, young people and families thrive.

We Will Make Every Contact Count 

The first conversation is often really important and we understand the importance of handling this well. Whoever is chosen to be the person the child, young person or carer talks to, is the one who has the responsibility to make sure the response is a helpful one. 

We Will Listen To You And Not Judge You

We will show you we are listening and not judging you. We will care about the issues you share and will do our best to help. 

We Will ‘Work With You’ – And Not ‘Do To You’ 

We will not tell you what to do. We understand you know yourself and your family best. We will enable you to help yourself and won’t make you feel ‘done to’. 

We Will Give You One Point Of Contact 

We will work with you to identify a lead professional. That may be the person who first understands you need help, or it may be someone better placed to help you, but there will be one point of contact. This person will be your first point of contact who will help make sure the right support is in place. 

Our Assessments Will Be Uncomplicated And Robust 

We will make sure we understand your situation and will write it down. We will share it with you to make sure you agree. We will talk to family members and sometimes other professionals with your agreement to make sure we have understood your situation. 

We Will Take Care Of Your Information 

We will look after your personal information and make sure you give us consent before we share it. We will only share it without your agreement if we feel a child or young person is at risk and the law says we must share it for safeguarding reasons. 

We Won’t ‘Pass The Buck’ 

We will help you at the point of enquiry and won’t pass you to someone else until we know they will help you. We will do our best to draw in the support needed rather than just refer you on, not knowing whether help will follow. 

In Dudley, our five cluster areas are now well established. They bring together
a range of universal and targeted Early Help services in each local area,
including schools, health services and services provided by the voluntary and
community sector.

The five local family hubs sit within the heart of each of the clusters. The hubs are partnership buildings that provide co-location of services and professionals giving families a local access point for
Early Help and Support.

There are a further two-family hub ‘spokes’ which are satellite centres that provide families with support but do not have the full range of services the family hub offer.

The Early Help partnership delivery approach is restorative practice, based on positive and healthy relations, identifying the strengths within the family and creating positive change.

This approach is not only applied to working with families, restorative practice, is the way the partnership works together, by creating a healthy working environment where all parts of the partnership are valued.

The Early Help Assessment forms a key part of the Early Help Strategy and is a simple way to help identify the needs of children, young people and their families and make a plan to meet those needs. It is designed to be a shared tool which can be used by all agencies in Dudley who are delivering early help. It is a standardised approach so that all children and families have the same experience of identifying their needs, strengths and challenges. It also means that all agencies and partners are operating the same system, which ensures consistency right across the partnership. 

The approach of early identification puts children and young people at the heart of the assessment and will prevent issues escalating to statutory services. 

Early Help Assessment Guidance 

In order to support the development of Early Help Assessments, the council’s Centre for Professional Practice has developed some guidance documents to support Dudley practitioners and partner agencies completing these type of assessments: 

• Early Help Assessment Guidance
• View Dudley Children’s Services Procedures Manual 

View the Early Help in Dudley – information for Professionals and Partners video.

The DSPP Support Level Guidance and Framework and Request for Help and Support Form are available via the Dudley Childrens Portal. 

To make an Early Help Assessment please visit the Dudley Children’s Portal site.