Welcome pack

Section 1 - Welcome• Welcome• What is Early Help?• About Hertfordshire• What is a partnership group and how to be involved• Working together under one umbrellaSection 2 – Requesting Support• Overview of the Pathway to support• Pathway to support for Professionals• Pathway to support for Parents/Members of the public• Early Help pathway• Request for supportSection 3 – Tools to help you• Supporting you• Asking for support• Useful contacts

Families FirstAn introduction for new practitioners

Contents Page

Section 4- Training and Learning • Training and Learning • Things to remember

Training & LearningTools to help youRequesting SupportWelcome!

The purpose of this welcome pack is to help you as a new member of staff identify what Families First is and where and how it fits into children’s services.

Everyone has a responsibility to support children, increase their life chances and prevent any negative impact that may affect their lives now and in the future.

Hertfordshire’s Early help offer for families is known as Families First.It is not a direct service but an umbrella under which early help services come

together as a collective to provide a holistic approach to family support

Evidence suggests that early help provides better long term outcomes for families and in turn reduces the need for later more intensive support.

The aim of Families First is to provide professionals and families with support that builds resilience, independence and the ability to self help. In turn enabling

professionals to better support families and families to better support themselves.

Welcome

Training & Learning Tools to help youRequesting SupportWelcome!

What is Early Help?

‘Early Help means taking action to support a child, young person or

their family early in the life of a problem, ideally as soon as it emerges.

It can be required at any stage in a child’s life from pre-birth to

adulthood, and applies to any problem or need that the family cannot

deal with or meet on their own

Hertfordshire’s Early Help offerCLICK HERE

Local delivery ModelCLICK HERE

To understand Hertfordshire’s Early help offer and the local model for Early help use the

links provided

Welcome! Requesting Support Tools to help you Training & Learning

About Hertfordshire

The county of Hertfordshire is divided into 10 districts, However Watford and Three Rivers work collaboratively making 9 districts in total.

The map below shows the 9 districts. The following two pages show the double districts and quadrants. This is because many partners within Families First work in different ways .

9 Districts

5 Double Districts

4 Quadrants

Welcome! Requesting Support Tools to help you

What is a families First partnership group and how you are involved.

Families First is an inclusive umbrella supporting families outside of the Statutory Arena.

What is a ‘Families First Partnership group ?• Families First Partnership groups are held quarterly, providing an opportunity for professionals to come together, share

ideas and knowledge and discuss ways of shaping Early help in their local area.• Partnership groups are about empowering and supporting professionals to be instrumental in the delivery of Early help

What you can expect from a partnership group.• Open discussions and information sharing• Forward thinking initiatives to embed Families

First locally• Updates on Families First progress, tools and

offers• Networking with partners to sustain, promote

and encourage participation across the county• Knowledge building sessions/presentations

around specific Themes• Opportunity to have your say, ask questions and

make suggestions

Why is it important to get ‘Families First’ right?Implementing the families First way of working successfully

will:• Encourage families to self help, enabling them to access

faster support for the whole family to prevent an escalation of need.

• Provide professionals with access to shared Knowledge and services whilst reducing time spent responding to crisis.

• Resulting in fewer families entering into specialist/safeguarding services.

• Ensuring future sustainability for early help services.

Families First news letter• The families first news letter is sent out every two months

• The news letter is a great way of getting any messages/events and information from your service out countywide.• To sign up to receive the news letter CLICK HERE

Watford/Three Rivers

Training & LearningTools to help youRequesting SupportWelcome!

Working together under one umbrella

The Families First Model

supports professionals

to deliver Early help

within Hertfordshire on

a district level.

Families First senior coordinators,

coordinators and development

officers support partners to deliver appropriate early help to families in

Hertfordshire

*LSP - Local School Partnership* DWP – Department of working pensions

Working together while remembering

throughout that the family must be at the

centre of everything we do.

Families Of Hertfordshir

e

HealthSchools/LSP*

VoluntarySector

District

Council

Housing

DWP*

Family Centre

servicesIntensive

Family Support

Targeted Youth

Support

YC Hertford

shire

SEND services

DV Support Services

Police

Other Services

Welcome! Training & LearningTools to help youRequesting Support

Overview of the pathway to Support

Professionals

Parents

Customer service Centre

Multi-agency safeguarding hub

(MASH)

Statutory AssessmentTeam

Advice & Guidance-additional support

Families First Triage

Local Triage PanelAllocation of Key worker

All child related concerns whether early help or safeguarding go through a process.. CLICK HERE for a step by step guide

Consultation Hub

Schools& keyworkers only

Telephone lineTargeted Youth Support

Professionals will be given advice and guidance,

directed to make a referral for a families first assessment or advised to make a child protection

referral

Pathway to support for professionals

YesHave you considered a Families first assessment?

No

No

Can this support be provided by one

agency

Direct partners to families first portal

and offer advice and guidance

Professionals- Things you must consider before point of referral

From this point the process is as the previous slide indicates

Are you in a position to carry out this

assessment yourself?

Initiate families

first assessment

You need to consider a families

first assessment. Do you know how to do

this?

No

No

Cu

Customer service Centre0300 123 4040

8am – 8pm Mon to Fri

9am – 4pm Sat

For advice and guidance with families

first assessments

page 14

Pathway to support for parents/ Members of public

Parents/ Members of the public-a contact number for the family

must be given

Multi-agency safeguarding hub

(MASH)

Parents can call - Customer service Centre0300 123 4043

8am – 8pm Mon to Fri, 9am – 4pm Sat

Parents are contacted and information is discussed, consent

is gained if needed.

Families first triage

Local triage panel

Allocation of key worker

Customer Service Centre

Families First Triage Local Triage PanelAllocation of Key

worker

If a family already have an allocated key worker new information is passed directly to that worker, Team manager and FF assessment tray

Triage is a central team who processes all the referrals that are not child

protection but are likely to need early help. They may give advice and

information to the referrer and signpost to an organisation that can support the

family. Triage will gain consent from parents to share information, take cases

to the local Triage Panels and contact other agencies such schools, GPs and

health for information.

These multi- agency panels are chaired by a Triage Manager who is a

qualified Social Worker. Partner agencies sit on the panels and share

information about the family and collaboratively agree who should be the key worker and lead the Families

First Assessment.

Allocation of the key worker is determined by who is the most appropriate service to lead on

the support being offered. Allocation of a key worker allows

families to have single point of contact meaning they will only

have to tell their story once.

Early help pathway to support

If consultation hub have advised to contact customer service centre then information goes straight to assessment

Welcome! Requesting Support Training & LearningTools to help you

Request

• A request for support is made if a family needs more help than a single agency can provide and they do not meet the social care threshold. Families and professionals will make this request through the Customer Service Centre. Alternatively the case could be stepped down from the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH).

FF Triage

• Families First Triage assesses the request for support and offers advice, guidance or signposting.

• Sends to Triage Panel as appropriate.

Triage Panel

• Weekly multi-agency triage panel uses local knowledge to identify the most appropriate support for the family.

Key Worker

• The family is allocated a Families First Keyworker (from any agency)

• The keyworker co-ordinates the support around the family.

Request for Support

Welcome! Requesting Support Training & Learning

Supporting You

Support is available and is provided in many forms, below are some suggestions of support on offer

Access the professional area of the portal CLICK HERE For support with, All things families First

Families First Co-ordinators cover double districts.For support with:

✓ When and how to initiate a Families First Assessment (FFA) or Short-Term work ✓ Support with completing an assessment, action plan or review forms on the Early Help Module (EHM) ✓ Advice and guidance on emerging concerns for a child or family ✓ Help with completing an FFA for identified cases ✓ Review of open cases with the Keyworker through constructive feedback ✓ Effective evidencing of the views of the child and family in the Families First process ✓ Support in identifying appropriate services to involve in the TAF ✓ Advice and support to Keyworkers on cases not progressing, complex or step downs to Early Help ✓ Support with Personalised Commissioning application ✓ Support with any issues relating to the Families First process/pathway, tools or EHM ✓ For more information about coordinator support please see the next page

Families First Development officersFor support with:

• Promoting Families first• Arranging Shadowing

• Supporting partnership meetings• Improving resources

• Email: familiesfirst.support@hertfordshire.gov.uk

Other partnersFamilies First promotes

the collective working of all partners, to build and

share knowledge, to provide the best resources

and support that Early help has to offer.

Families First Help Desk• Coordinating new user registrations on EHM• Completing new family registrations to

enable the start of an FFA• Advice and support with EHM issues

• Support with accessing our training offer

Call – 01438 737575

Asking for Support

Watford & Three Rivers St Albans & Dacorum Welwyn Hatfield & Hertsmere

Senior Coordinator: George GearingTel: 01438 844038Email: george.gearing@hertfordshire.gov.ukCoordinator: Sharon Peach (Mon – Wed)Tel: 01438 844097Email: sharon.peach@hertfordshire.gov.uk

Senior Coordinator: Therese AntoineTel: 01992 588831Email: therese.antonie@hertfordshire.gov.ukCoordinator: Anna WoodTel: 01438 844191Email: anna.wood@hertfordshire.gov.uk

Senior Coordinator: Ciara McDonaldTel: 01438 843463Email: ciara.mcdonald@hertfordshire.gov.ukCoordinator: Emma DelaperelleTel: 01438 843288Email: emma.delaperelle@hertfordshire.gov.uk

East Herts & Broxbourne North Herts & Stevenage

Senior Coordinator: Serena YearwoodTel: 01438 845678Email: serena.yearwood@hertfordshire.gov.ukCoordinator: Jackie BrewinTel: 01438 844982

Email: Jackie.brewin@hertfordshire.gov.uk

Senior Coordinator: Helen Whyman (Mon - Wed am)Tel: 01438 844746Email: helen.whyman1@hertfordshire.gov.ukSenior Coordinator: Holly Turl (Wed pm – Fri)Tel: 01438 843794Email: Holly.Turl@hertfordshire.gov.uk

Coordinator: Suzanne Paisley (Mon –Wed) Tel: 01438 843519Email: Suzanne.paisley@hertfordshire.gov.ukCoordinator: Nichola Pyrkos (Thurs – Fri)Tel: 01438 845423Email: Nichola.pyrkos@hertfordshire.gov.ukFamilies First help desk, Coordinators

and senior coordinators support professionals with all aspects of

Families First Families First Helpdesk 01438 737575

Welcome! Requesting Support Training & Learning

Useful contacts to think about

Customer service Centre

0300 123 40438am – 8pm Mon to Fri

9am – 4pm Sat

If you have child protection or safeguarding concerns

for a child call 03001234043 or CLICK HERE

For schools and key workers only

consultation telephone line 01438 737511

For the practitioners area

of the Families First portal :

CLICK HERE

For help in finding appropriate services

for parents to self help use the

Hertfordshire directory:

CLICK HERE

Families First Helpdesk : 01438 737575 for support with EHM

As a new starter we want to make it as easy as possible for you to access training.

Hertfordshire safeguarding children partnershipThe above link is for the Hertfordshire safeguarding children partnership. All training can be found on the Learning Hub. Members who are paying in to the partnership and all HCC

employees receive this training free of charge. All other partners pay £75 for a full day course and £50 for a Half day

course.All lite bite sessions are free of charge

To book go to:http://hscb.event-booking.org.uk

Hertfordshire county council Workforce development CLICK HERE

The vision for Families First training and development is to create a skilled, confident and resilient multi-agency

workforce that supports whole family working..

Training & Learning

Workforce shadowingWorkforce Shadowing is an exciting opportunity to ‘spend a day in someone else’s shoes’ and is open to the entire Families

First partnership.To arrange workforce shadowing please email the address below:

FamiliesFirst.Shadowing@hertfordshire.gov.uk

Practice Forums –Attend your local Families First Practice Forum for a structured, themed learning session encompassing Families First and Early Help within Hertfordshire. CLICK HERE

Families First practice and Early Help Module (EHM) System Training –This course is aimed at practitioners who will initiate Families First Assessments (FFA) and/or undertake a keyworker role for a family. CLICK HERE

Welcome! Requesting Support Training & LearningTools to help you

Things to remember

Families First is an Early help

offer not an Early Help service

You cannot make a referral to Families

First, you must follow the pathway

to support

If you don’t know, Ask!

Coordinators are there to support

professionals

Use the resources available to you, Training courses and

Partnership meetings are a great way to meet people and

share knowledge.

Sign up to the Families First News Letter for up

to date informationCLICK HERE