The Medway Early Help Strategy 2025-2027 sets out Medway’s partnership approach to early help.

What is Early Help?

Early Help is the term used by agencies in Medway to describe support to potentially vulnerable children, young people and their families as soon as problems start to emerge. Although research shows that the most impact can be made during a child’s early years, early help is not just for very young children because problems can emerge at any point throughout childhood and adolescence. Children and families are therefore entitled to early help when they need additional support. The purpose of early help is to prevent issues and problems from escalating by building resilience. This is achieved through prompt and targeted interventions to families by those who know them best.

In summary early help is a shared responsibility and not a distinct service. 

“Early Help is everyone’s responsibility”

How do we do it?

Most children’s needs are met by their family or universal services which are available to everyone. These are provided as a right to all children, young people, and their families. However, some children require support in addition to that provided by universal services to ensure their education, health, social and developmental needs are met. For these children, support may be provided by a single agency, or by several different agencies working together, with a lead practitioner co-ordinating the work.

“The right conversations, with the right people at the right time”

When you think ‘Early help’ what do you consider?

It is really important that you think ‘partnership’ working and you consider what support is around the children; first and foremost, their family, wider family, partner agencies, universal services, and specialist services.

We need to consider and understand what level of support a family need and who is the appropriate lead for a family? This may be a community partner, or it may also be a Family Solutions practitioner.

As a professional, you could be asked to be a lead practitioner, contribute to an  Early Help Plan and attend an Early Help Review.

What is an Early Help Intervention Plan (EHIP)?

The EHIP can be used by all agencies including health, schools, academies, early years settings and colleges as part of the graduated response to meet the needs of children and young people to record, monitor and evaluate support, intervention and progress against outcomes set.

The purpose of the EHIP is to bring together the family and practitioners with the appropriate skills to meet the identified needs of the child and family and develop a family intervention plan. The parents and practitioners concerned will agree the most appropriate person to undertake the Lead Practitioner role.

Practitioners using an EHIP to support children and their families consider the needs of the child and family and develop a plan of intervention with the family, wider support network, and any other partner agency who are or could be involved with the family.  EHIP are designed to help a practitioner:

• explore strengths and concerns with a family and their network
• provide brief and focused intervention
• make sure a family can access support and services to address any concerns at the earliest opportunity
• identify outcomes for the family to achieve.

The focus will be with a child-centred approach, positive engagement with the family, increased community involvement and collaboration between agencies.

The intervention will be reviewed with the family and any partner agencies who are or could work with the family to support with addressing identified needs every 6-8 weeks.

The main aims of a review meeting are to:

• bring together children, young people, parents, and practitioners
• look at the plan in place and consider any changes that have happened since the plan started. There is a focus on the positives as well as areas where support is still needed
• make sure parents, carers, children, and young people have an equal role in agreeing goals and how to meet those goals
• make sure everyone involved in the plan is completing the intervention they agreed to do.

The completed EHIP should be submitted to support any contacts to Children’s Services.

Family Solutions are a geographically based team of multi skilled practitioners (who are within Medway Council’s Children’s Services department) who can provide early intervention to children and their families who are presenting with multiple level 2 needs.

Professional support

Early Help Co-ordinators and Early Help Partnership Officers are available to support Lead Practitioners and partner agencies in their delivery of Early Help. This is to ensure families who need help and support receive it in a timely way from the right partner agencies.

Early Help Co-ordinators and Partnership Officers offer support that helps partner agencies/lead practitioners:

• Engage with children and families who practitioners maybe finding it difficult to engage with.
• Practitioners who are starting an Early Help Intervention Plan or moving towards a review.
• Identify which services could be included in an intervention plan/ review meeting.
• Supporting forging  links with external partners who are working with children and their families such as police, NHS and the Department of Work and Pensions.
• Support with the use of Mosaic – system for recording interventions with children and their families.

Early Help Co-ordinators and Partnership Officers:

Area 1 : Gillingham :

Helen Laming - Early Help Co-ordinator helen.laming@medway.gov.uk

Debbie Klucznik- Eary Help Partnership Officer  debbie.klucznik@edway.gov.uk

Area 2 : Luton and Rainham

Tascita Hinckson – Early Help Co-ordinator tascita.hinckson@medway.gov.uk

Tracey Reynolds - Early Help Partnership Officer – tracey.reynolds@medway.gov.uk

Area 3 : Strood

Hayley Galletly - Early Help Co-ordinator – hayley.galletly@medway.gov.uk

Lorraine Hunt- Early Help Partnership Officer – lorraine.hunt@medway.gov.uk

Area 4 : Chatham

Lisa Green - Early Help Co-ordinator – lisa.green@medway.gov.uk

Early Help Partnership Officer – TBC