Early Help and Preventative
Services
Patrick Leeson
Corporate Director, Education and Young People’s Services
Kent County Council
Vision
Our vision is that every child and young person,
from pre-birth to age 19, and their family, who needs
early help services will receive them in a timely and
responsive way, so that they are safeguarded, their
educational, social and emotional needs are met and
outcomes are good, and they are able to contribute
positively to their communities and those around
them now and in the future, including their active
engagement in learning and employment.
Resources for Early Help
Schools AEN funding
Pupil Premium
STLS and Special School outreach
PRUs and alternative provision
KCC Early Help Services
Free Early Years for 2 year olds
£88m
£30m
£7.7m
£11.8m
£36.4m
£17.6m
Total
£190m
Early Help and Preventative Services
These services are designed to respond early to tackle problems emerging for children,
young people and families, who without early help would be at greater risk of
developing more serious problems and having poorer outcomes. The services are
organised around 0-11 year olds (Kent Integrated Family Support Service and 11-19
year olds (Kent Integrated Adolescent Support Service).
From April 2014
• New services, integrated teams for every district
with lead manager
• KIFSS (0-11) and KIASS (11-19), effectively 0-19
• Single point of access, with refreshed early help
assessment process that is more risk based and
case manager for each case
• Key workers and teams wrapped around
schools
• Easier access to a range of services and
interventions
Key Aspects of Delivery Model
• Local and accessible
• Integrated, multi-disciplinary and multi-agency
• Targeted
• Family focused
• Scope is universal, targeted and specialist
• Risk based and needs led
• Outcomes focused through effective case management
• Logic models of change, only do what adds value and has
greatest impact
Priority Areas
•
Safeguarding children and young people from harm and
preventing problems escalating;
•
Focusing services on high need families;
•
Improving outcomes for, and meeting the needs of,
vulnerable children and adolescents;
•
Ensuring support to make big difference in the early years;
•
Improving the emotional health and wellbeing of children
and young people; and
•
Ensuring early support for disabled children, young people
and their families.
The Challenge in Kent
• Over 50,000 children and young people live in poverty in
families with less than 60 per cent of median income, and
so they are less likely to achieve or maintain the standards
of health, wellbeing, safety, educational attainment or
employment enjoyed by others.
• Many of these children thrive, in spite of difficulties, but
among these there are children and families with multiple
disadvantages who, without additional support, will not be
able to improve their outcomes. For this reason Early Help
and Preventative Services will ensure we target the right
children, young people and families and respond with the
most effective joined up packages of support that are likely
to have long term positive impact.
Dataset for Early Help and Preventative Services
• In 2013-14 CAF completed assessments 3754
• Children and young people with TAF support 7149
• TAFs closed 3,690
• TAFs closed with outcomes achieved 1,554
• TAFs escalated to SCS 464
• Cases stepped down by SCS 1,153
Dataset for Early Help and Preventative Services
Troubled Families
• Target 2560 families
• Families identified 2274
• Families worked with 2153
• Families fully engaged with at present 700?
• Families turned around 755 (29% compared to national
average 33%)
• Highest target number in Swale (369) and Thanet (364)
Dataset for Early Help and Preventative Services
• Children registered at Children’s Centres 64738
• Children estimated from disadvantaged homes, 9700
• Children with SEND 1257
• PRU single registrations 218
• Dual registrations 562
• Persistent absence 3800 Primary, 5444 Secondary
• Youth Offending 371 (including 165 social care cases)
Dataset for Early Help and Preventative Services
• Children accessing free 2 year old provision 2366
• Children eligible 3847
• NEET 2867
• NEET vulnerable groups 1110 including
• 184 CiC
• 497 young parents
• 79 YOS
• 259 LDD
Criteria for Targeted Early Help
• Multiple risks
• Key indicators and predictors
• Whole family issues
• Below thresholds for SCS
• Requires multi-agency response
0-11 year olds: Kent Integrated Family
Support Service
11-19 year olds Kent Integrated
Adolescent Support Service
Range of Preventative Services
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Children’s Centres
Troubled Families Programme,
Early Intervention and Family Support Workers,
CAF Coordinators,
Attendance and Inclusion,
support for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children,
Youth Work,
Youth Offending,
Connexions targeted support for NEET young people,
services for young people’s substance misuse,
teenage pregnancy and sexual health.
There will also be more joined up work with CAMHS, school
nursing and health visiting, together with a more coordinated
approach to commissioning children’s health provision.
The Approach To Preventative Services
• Provide a single service response so that families, children and young people do not need to
move around the system and in and out of different services
• Strengthen earlier intervention through universal settings and to deliver our early help services
in families and in and around schools and other universal settings
• Coordinate our services with NHS services, so that we get a more integrated approach with
health visitors, school nurses, CAMHS, and substance misuse and sexual health workers who all
have a role in providing early help
• Have a clear simple pathway for children and young people’s needs to be identified and
assessed and a clear plan of support provided for the family
• Deliver District based integrated teams that will work together to provide support, and that will
meet weekly to coordinate and review the support packages for families in their local area, and
the progress that is being made towards achieving agreed outcomes
• Use the strengths of families to help themselves and ensure continuity of support for them until
they feel things have improved
Continuum of Need and Intervention
Intensity
Major Risk Factors
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Poverty
Mental illness of parent
Unstable parental and family relationships
Neglect
Domestic abuse and child abuse
Premature birth
Adverse family events, separation, bereavement
Multiple risks increase likelihood of harm
Protective Factors
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Supportive family environment and social networks
Nurturing parenting skills
Clear boundaries for children and young people
Schools and early years education, achievement,
peer groups, trusting adult relationships and care
systems
Parental employment
Adequate housing
Access to services in response to needs
Access to caring adults in the wider family/community
Engagement in wider leisure, sport, arts, volunteering
and community activities
Key Drivers
• Where to put the money - build up protective
factors in relation to risk
• Strengthen the preventative work and support for
vulnerable children in universal services
• Be clear who needs targeted support and why
• Greater investment in parenting and family support
• Develop capacity and resources to improve
children’s emotional resilience and mental health
• Commitment to involving families, children and
young people in contributing to and deciding what
will be most helpful
Quick Wins
• Identify schools willing to be ‘Early Adopters’
linked with the Children’s Centres and Youth Hubs
• Revise and refresh the CAF and ensure simplicity
and clarity throughout the early help assessment
• Brand recognition and quick response times
• Parental engagement in the earliest years
• Schools and other partners to know the local offer
and their key KCC district leads
Issues for Schools
• Clarify the early help offer and provision in school
• Identify the available funding and resources for early
help and prevention in school
• Identify and prioritise pupils (and families) who need
additional early help services from KCC
• Revise and review the use of the CAF and how the
school uses it
• Consider improvements to parental engagement and
support
• Schools and other partners to know the local offer and
engage with their key KCC district leads