Cheshire East Together for Families Integrated Front Door: Extra Help Support

Information for Families

You can access support for children and families through Cheshire East Together for Families Integrated Front Door.

To understand the type of support needed, we will make an initial assessment on the level of need. We will help identify the best type of support for you and your family based on the information you and, professionals known to you, provide. Where support can be delivered by early help services, you may be asked to consent to an Extra Help Assessment. A Lead Professional will be identified, someone known to you and your family.

If a professional has made a request for support on your behalf, an advisor from Cheshire East Together for Families will contact you, to gain consent to gather and share information to assess the best type of support for you and your family. The advisor will also gather information from previous case records and make contact with other agencies who may have worked with you. We do this to make informed decisions about the services that can help.

Once the information is gathered the advisor will discuss what happens next. For example, signposting to information and support in your local area, such as a Family Hub. Or you may be offered more targeted or statutory support.

You can also access the Live Well site to look at community services available which you can contact for support.

What is an Extra Help Assessment

Across the Borough we also have Partnership Family Help Officers whose role is to provide support, advice and guidance.

Support offered includes:

• Extra Help – what is it and when is an assessment needed including the role of the Lead person
• having the conversation with parents and carers to start an Extra Help Assessment to support positive engagement
• how to Capture the Child's Voice and why this is important, including tools and resources
• using the Signs of Wellbeing framework with families
• gathering initial assessment information – including tools and resources to complete the mapping
• what happens next – initial and review meetings.
• Understanding processes to support children and families where the level of need changes.

To access support from our Partnership Family Help Officers you can email partnershipfamilyhelp@cheshireeast.gov.uk