Completing an Early Help Assessment
Pointers for completing an Early Help Assessment (EHA)
An example 'gold standard' Early Help Assessment and Plan is available to download.
Checks
- Think about who else might be working with the child and their family and how might be a source of knowledge to support their identified needs.
Consent
- It is important that families understand what they are consenting to, what information will be stored and what will be shared with other support agencies/services;
- parents need to understand they have a choice as to which agencies their information is shared with;
- it is good practice to get written consent rather than verbal; and
- if you have not got consent you should stop.
Planning
- identify the date, time and place to carry out the assessment in partnership with the family;
- determine who needs to be invovled (family members and significant others);
- whether there are any communication needs and how you might cater for these i.e. family speak a different language or parent is deaf;
- bring along age appropriate methods or tools for talking with children and young people;
- familiarise yourself with the Early Help Assessment so you know what to expect;
- read through the example Early Help Assessment to help inform your practice.
Strength Based Conversations
- Identify what is going well - focus on strengts;
- identify what is the most important issue for the child/parents/carers/family at the moment;
- remember to be capture the voice of the child, this includes their wishes and feelings;
- any strength based conversations held with a young person (under 18 years) with the potential outcome being an Early Help Assessment needs to be undertaken with the parents/carers consent;
Completing the Early Help Assessment (EHA)
- Make notes as you go along;
- use open ended questions to identify what support the family need/want;
- read back through the form with the young person/parents/carers and confirm the actions you have agreed together;
- type up the Early Help Assessment on to the Early Help Module (if you have access) and ensure that the family are provided with an up to date copy; and
- make sure you have signed consent to share.
Family Support Meeting
- Meet with the family on a regular basis to monitor progress; and
- within 6 weeks of completing the Early Help Assessment you should arrange a Family Support Meeting to review actions and progress.