What is Families First for Children and Family Help?

We all need some extra help and support at times, as a family we want you to know it’s ok to ask for and expect help. We have a document known as ‘Our Family’, this is a needs assessment, and it follows legal guidance. The purpose of ‘Our Family’ is to help us all to understand your family, what is and has been happening, and what help you need so everyone in the family is safe and has an opportunity to thrive. It helps us understand together your family story, so you can receive purposeful help. The professional who does this assessment with you may vary depending on what help and support your family needs If extra support needs are indentified, this can be a quick assessment. The assessment may be completed by the child’s school or education provider, or a health professional, who will focus on these specific needs. If you need more targeted help and support then a Family Help Practitioner will do the assessment with you, they will be known as the Family Help Coordinator. This may include consideration of your children meeting the legal definition of a ‘child in need’, or ‘child in need of protection’. If this is the case, this will be discussed with you and these terms will be properly explained

The purpose of this document is for this information to be in one place. We will return to this document with you if things change so we are not starting again. With your agreement this can be shared with other professionals, so you do not have to repeat this information to different people.

Following the completion of ‘Our Family’ assessment of need, we will together agree a plan of support and meet regularly with all people and services identified as being important to your family to ensure help and support is being provided, this group of people are known as the ‘team around the family’

This brings together your family and other people who are the right people to provide help and support, the other people could include school’s or Early Years staff, Health Visitors, School Nurses, Midwifery, Doctors, Family Help Practitioners, Social Workers or the Voluntary and Community sector. It is also important to recognise the support you could receive from your wider family and friends; help us to understand who they are and with your consent they can be part of the team around your family and be involved as soon as possible.

You can expect to:

  • be treated with respect by all professionals, and things explained clearly
  • have open and honest conversations about what is working well and what needs to change in your situation
  • be at the centre of the plan, and feel included. Any arrangements won’t be made to you, they will be done with you
  • be involved in setting goals, reviewing progress, and deciding what works best for you and your family
  • things to be done, when it said they will be done
  • be an equal partner, not to be told what to do and not to be judged Our aim is to find solutions together that suit your needs and builds on your family’s strengths

For family help to make a positive impact, we need you to be willing to work with professionals and your wider family and friends who are supporting you. We need you to be open and honest with us about what is going well and what is challenging in your situation, so we can make sure the right help is being provided.

We need you to

  • be active in the planning and reviewing of the support that you receive, and to give us feedback
  • be able to work not just with you, but where possible with your networks and key people around you, this will be done with your agreement
  • follow through with the things that you have agreed to, and to let us know if there are any changes or difficulties