What is Targeted Support (Early Help)?
Cambridgeshire County Council provide Early Help services through their Targeted Support district teams. Families can access Targeted Support services if/when they have accessed other local support available to them but still have outstanding needs. Targeted Support are an early intervention service and aim to provide support to children, young people and families at the earliest possible stage in their journey to ensure needs are met as quickly as possible. Targeted Support work with children and families from 0-19 years. If there are additional needs the age range is 0-25 years. It is a planned and structured approach in response to your family’s needs.
Early help is providing the right children, young people and families with the right support, in the right place at the right time.
We all believe that by supporting children and families earlier we can stop any problems they are facing from getting worse and help them to find the solutions that will make their lives better in the future. We can do this by working together, building on children’s and families’ strengths, and developing their capacity to make positive changes for themselves. We believe that delivering Early Help well has the potential to transform the lives of children, young people and their families across Cambridgeshire. We are committed to reducing inequalities and providing high quality targeted support to families makes an important contribution to achieving that aim
Our Approach
We have a strong set of guiding principles that inform our approach to Early Help across our partnership. These are:
- Children and young people are at the heart of what we do. We will listen to children and young people’s views and feelings and understand the impact on them and their family.
- We build capacity, not create dependency.
- We will work with children, young people and families to recognise and build on their strengths.
- We will help them develop the skills to solve problems and overcome challenges.
- We work as a partnership to effect change. Early Help is everyone’s business.
- We will draw on the skills and knowledge of all the partners who work with children and families.
- We intervene early to prevent problems from getting worse. We will not wait before problems become unmanageable before we offer help, and we recognise that support might come from a range of different places. We work with the whole family.
- We know that children and young people live in families, so we will work with the family as a whole, and the individuals within the family, to understand their needs and develop holistic support.
- We join up our systems and processes. Families will tell their story once and will work with a trusted professional throughout their journey. We use evidence to inform what we do. Our offer of support will be guided by the latest research and evidence of what works.
- We will be bold and innovate, but always test the impact of new approaches. Strong families, strong communities Securing best outcomes for children and young people
- We work in places and communities. We will build the capacity of communities to support their members, create local networks of professionals who work together, and target our support to meet the different needs of individual places
District Teams
Your child's school or any other involved professional can complete an Early Help Assessment requesting support from a Targeted Support team.
Disciplines within each team work together to support families meet the identified needs of a child or young person.
Child and Family Centres (link to CFC tile)– offer groups, events, activities, courses and support for families with children aged 0-19 with a focus on the Early Years. They offer a wide range of services and support for families from pregnancy to the teenage years.
Family Work - working with families through one to one interventions, parenting programmes and group activities. They build confidence and develop strategies to effect change in children’s lives.
Young People’s Workers – working with young people, who are at risk of becoming Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET), to overcome the barriers and issues they face.
Senior Transition Advisors / Transition Advisors / YOS Transition Advisors - provide targeted information, advice, guidance and support to vulnerable young people at risk of becoming NEET.
Support can also be accessed via a parenting course. Parenting programmes/ courses are for parents with children of any age (0-19).