Westmorland and Furness Safeguarding Children Partnership

Family Help

Family Help in the context of safeguarding children refers to a coordinated, multi-agency early support system designed to work with families to prevent small issues from escalating into serious harm. It is a core part of the 2023 update to Working Together to Safeguard Children. Family Help means providing support as soon as a problem emerges, at any point in a child’s life.

In Westmorland and Furness, we have adopted the phrase Family Help to encompass Early Help, Early Intervention and Prevention. Family Help is a partnership model of delivery, that includes Health partners, Police, Education, Local Authority, Voluntary and Community sectors working together to identify needs within families as early as possible, by using an Early Help Assessment with families so that they have access to the right support, in the right place, at the right time.

Family Help is part of a system-wide approach to supporting the needs of children and their families and works alongside the Threshold Guidance and the Continuum of Need (link to thresholds guidance page).

The Westmorland and Furness Family Help strategy

The Westmorland and Furness Family Help Strategy (PDF , 12MB) sets out how all those working with children, young people and their families will deliver services in a way which ensures they maximise their potential and keep them safe without recourse to targeted or intensive interventions from statutory agencies.

The Westmorland and Furness Family Help offer

Family Help involves all partners having a shared responsibility to look for signs that children and families need help, and then to communicate and act quickly to address these needs. Providing good Family Help considers what is happening for everyone in the family, a ‘whole family approach’ and the needs of all children, young people and their networks are considered in the assessment and support provided.

Our model is simple so that everyone can understand it. Family Help in Westmorland and Furness either sits in ‘Universal and Community Family Help’ or when a family’s needs become more complex ‘Targeted Family Help’.

Early Help Team Brochure (PDF , 4MB)

School Offer Early Help Brochure (PDF , 5MB)

Early Help assessment 

This is a process used by professionals to assess a child and family's needs and strengths, and to develop a plan to address those needs. It aims to provide support early on to prevent problems from escalating.

At this level of need an Early Help Assessment - Signs of Well-being (EHA) should be completed with the child and family to identify, what is working well, what the worries are and what wellbeing would look like?

Signs of Wellbeing is a framework or approach used within the Early Help Assessment process. It focuses on understanding what is working well for the child and family (strengths), what the concerns are, and what a positive future looks like (wellbeing goals). It helps professionals and families identify what needs to change to improve the child's wellbeing.

Based on the information collated a clear plan will be developed by the agencies with the family that is SMART and is focused on what success will look like for the child/ren.

Any professional from a service that supports families can initiate an Early Help Assessment - Signs of Well-being (EHA) and can be carried out with any child or young person from pre-birth up to age 19 (up to the age of 25 if the young person has a learning difficulty or disability).

The completion of an EHA would trigger a response from different agencies.  A date should be set for a Team Around the Family (TAF) meeting, in order to identify a coordinator, agree the plan and which agency would work to achieve each of the wellbeing goals.

Team around the family (TAF)

When a child or young person needs more support than a single service can provide, the Team Around the Family approach offers a coordinated, collaborative solution. It's built around a completed Early Help Assessment (EHA) and brings together the family and relevant professionals to create a shared plan focused on wellbeing, resilience, and achievable goals.

A key strength of the TAF model is that it keeps the child and family’s voice at the centre. Meetings are led by a designated lead professional—usually the person closest to the family—and include professionals from health, education, housing, and the voluntary sector as needed. Together, they design a practical plan that identifies what’s working well, what’s worrying, and what needs to change.

Frequency of TAF meetings will differ depending upon the complexities of the situation. Initially they will be more frequent but should be six weekly - or in some circumstances termly. TAF plans are reviewed regularly in line with meetings, to track progress and adapt as things evolve.

If a family's situation becomes more complex or concerns escalate, the team can refer to the Family Support Panel for additional support. Once goals are met, the plan may step down, gradually reducing involvement while ensuring continuity. Parent’s involvement should always be encouraged, if necessary, via another trusted partner agency known to the family. If there is no improvement for the young person or their circumstances deteriorate, discuss with your line manager, designated safeguarding lead or designated Early Help Officer. It is good practice to check why the family and/or young person do not want to proceed with the support as it may be constructive feedback to change the approach or change coordinator.

If a young person requests an Early Help Assessment and does not want parents involved, they can give consent themselves following the Fraser Competence guidelines (this should be clearly recorded as having been considered). The Assessment cannot proceed without either the Parent or Young Person consenting.

It is important to consider Information Sharing as the Family Help process is consent based. Consent should be sought from the parents’/carers or young people given consent for information to be shared with identified professionals initially listed. As other professionals become involved further consent needs to be sought and the form updated.

TAF is about preventing problems from becoming crises. It empowers families, builds trust between professionals, and ensures that the right help is delivered at the right time.

Team around the setting (TAS)

While TAF focuses on individual families, the Team Around the Setting (TAS) model offers proactive, setting-wide support—especially for schools, early years providers and Further Education institutions. It's designed for when staff notice early signs that a pupil might need extra help, but before a formal assessment has taken place.

TAS meetings are convened regularly—usually termly—and are facilitated by the setting’s linked Early Help Officer (EHO). These meetings give Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs), SENCOs, and other key staff a confidential and supportive space to discuss concerns. Even where consent has not yet been obtained, anonymised discussions are encouraged so that issues can be addressed early.

The goal of TAS is to enable faster access to advice, support, and coordinated intervention—without the delays often associated with navigating services individually. These meetings also improve communication between settings and agencies, help track progress, and reduce the risk of escalation or crisis.

Whether held face-to-face or virtually, TAS meetings help bridge the gap between universal and targeted support. They're particularly valuable during key transitions—like moving schools—or when multiple pupils in a setting show signs of emerging need.

Family Help consultancy, advice and guidance

Early Help Officers provide Family Help consultancy to support any agency undertaking Family Help work. Family Help consultancy includes:

  • being the first point of contact for advice and guidance, when an agency is unclear if a contact needs to be made to the Multi-Agency Childrens Hub
  • advising if the child or family is already open to a children and families services
  • supporting others to complete an Early Help Assessment Signs of Wellbeing
  • supporting Early Help coordinators across the partnership around our strengths-based approach to the effective delivery of Family Help through briefings, workforce development, information, advice and guidance
  • providing support and challenge to agencies completing Early Help Assessment Signs of Wellbeing, to ensure that the work they are completing, alongside children and families, has significant and sustained impact
  • identifying and address any drift and delay in Family Help cases coordinated by partner agencies

When an agency or Team Around the Family (TAF) are concerned about how to deliver the plan or are unable to identify an appropriate coordinator, the case should be taken to the Early Help and Family Support Panel.

Family Help partnership training offer

The Family Help Partnership team have many training sessions on offer.  These are:

  • Early Help Assessment Overview - An introductory session (duration 1 hour) – available online or in person
  • how to support children and families through Early Help – EH assessment training (duration 2 hours) - available online or in person
  • the Family Help team – introductory session detailing our community model and collaborative approach (duration 1 hour) – available online or in person
  • Domestic Abuse awareness and Operation Encompass training for schools – this training is delivered by The DA Team, Police and EH Team in collaboration. See advertised dates – available online
  • Bitesize - Voice of the Child (VOC) training (1 hour)
  • Bitesize  – Neglect : Early intervention and prevention EH support

Anyone wishing to book onto any training can do so by contacting the EH Team via family.help.WAF@cumbria.gov.uk or contacting their named Early Help Officer directly.

For any questions on Family Help training please call 0300 373 2723.

Contact the Family Help team

There is a named Early Help Officer (EHO) for every Team around the School.  The EHO's are the district officers. 

Find contact details for EHOs and other Family Help team members (PDF , 111KB).

Consultation advice and guidance

Westmorland and Furness Early Help Team dedicated consultation advice and guidance. 

Telephone: 0300 373 2723

Safety happiness and health toolkit

The Cumbria Safeguarding Youth Voices have developed a toolkit for safety happiness and health, for young people (PDF , 8MB).

Family Help business support

Email: family.help.waf@cumbria.gov.uk

Telephone: 0300 373 2723

If you have initiated or you're closing an Early Help assessment

Members of the Early Help Team are based within the Cumberland Safeguarding Hub and the Westmorland and Furness Safeguarding Hub and they register all initiated, change of coordinator and closed Early Help Assessments.

Where either of the Safeguarding Hubs have screened a contact and it meets the Early Help threshold, you may be contacted by the Early Help Officer based in that Safeguarding Hub.

Westmorland and Furness Family Help team

Telephone: 0300 373 2723
Email: family.help.waf@cumbria.gov.uk