Early Help – Suffolk Offer

The Early Help Service offers a wide range of support, the focus of the service is to work with families in ways that help you to manage and identify your own solutions. This support is available for parents and their children 0-19 (up to 25 for those with additional needs).

This may include:

• Health and children centres providing groups you and your child can attend, information and advice as well as health visiting services for families with children from pre-birth to 5. Visit your local centre.
• One to one parenting support according to the needs of your family accessed via CAF.
• One to one support to improve child’s confidence and wellbeing accessed via CAF.
• Support to encourage school attendance –  Attendance Officer accessed via school
• Support for young people in year 10 – 13 who are at risk of, or not in education, employment or training accessed via school, college or a provider. You can also contact your area team.
• Parenting groups, eg Triple P, Solihull, Strengthening Families visit the Parent Hub on the Suffolk County Council website for more information.
• School nursing service 1:1 Health advice for children and families (5-19), confidential text chat service for young people.
• Specialist school nursing service 1-1 health advice for some children with additional needs and their families aged 3 – 19.
  East Coast Community Health Care provides health visiting and school nursing services for Lowestoft and Waveney

If you or those who work with your family feel your child needs extra help because they have some unmet needs, you can choose to begin a common assessment framework, often referred to as a CAF, visit the Suffolk County Council website or contact Mrs Duggan at the school for more information. A CAF may be useful if your child is experiencing a range of difficulties; these might be around their emotional wellbeing or around their behaviour in the home or the local community. Most often it is when there is a combination of difficulties. Usually, if the only difficulty you and your child are experiencing is around your child’s behaviour at school, a CAF is not appropriate. Occasionally a CAF is completed when an early help service is not required. In this situation, we will still provide advice and guidance to make sure you get the support you need.

Disabled Children and Young People’s Services

The Disabled Children and Young Peoples Services team provide support and advice to disabled children and young people with complex needs requiring a higher level of specialist services. Following a social work assessment, services provided could include the offer of support at home with personal care, overnight breaks from caring either in the home or within a short break provision and the option of Direct Payments as a Personal Budget where appropriate and as part of an Education, Health and Care Plans.

For further information on the threshold criteria for a service from the Disabled Children and Young Peoples Services please refer to our guidance document.

If your child has a disability and you think your child would benefit from support from a short break please contact Activities Unlimited.

If your child has a disability and you think your child would benefit from support from social care, please contact Customer First on 0808 800 4005.