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

When you contact Cheshire East Together for Families IFD, the information you provide about the child and family will be considered to help determine the most appropriate level of help and support.

Where the IFD determines that the child and family would benefit from Extra Help, the focus should be on helping the family to access support at the earliest opportunity.

For professionals, this means working with the family to consider:

• what is already working well and what the family would like help with
• whether support can be provided through your own service or another service already involved
• which other services or community support may be able to help
• who within the family's wider network could provide help and support

Where more than one service is involved, professionals should work together with the family so that support is coordinated and families do not have to repeatedly tell their story.

What this means for the professional who contacted the IFD

A decision that a family needs Extra Help does not mean that concerns should simply be passed on to another service. Where appropriate, the professional who knows the child and family best, should remain involved and help the family to identify and access the right support. This may include completing an Extra Help Assessment.

The aim is to build on the relationships, strengths and support already around the family, bringing in additional help where this is needed.

Across the Borough we have Partnership Family Help Officers whose role is to provide support, advice and guidance to partners in the community on the following:

• 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, professionals can email partnershipfamilyhelp@cheshireeast.gov.uk