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Early Support is developing as part of wider policy initiatives to join up services around families and children. It's a practical mechanism to deliver the integrated working required of public services by Every Child Matters, published in 2003, and by The Children Act (2004).
Common Assessment Framework (CAF)
The CAF is a shared assessment tool that is being used across all children's services in England to identify a need for co-ordinated support from a number of agencies early. CAF forms record a discussion that takes place with families when the need for an integrated response is first identified.
In general, where CAF identifies a need for an integrated response from a number of different people or agencies as a result of a young child's disability or emerging difficulty, Early Support provides the mechanism to deliver integrated help and support.
Lead professional
When a range of services is involved with a child and family and an integrated response is required, the lead professional is the person who takes the lead to co-ordinate provision and be a single point of contact for that child and their family. The need for lead professional support is normally identified through the Common Assessment Framework process.
Read more about lead professionals and key practice Government guidance.
Where the nature of a child's situation means that a family uses many different services, they are likely to need more support, and over a longer period of time than other people. Lead professionals who provide this more intense service for families with disabled children are often called key workers.
Read more about lead professionals and their role in delivering the Early Support programme.
Information sharing
Information sharing is the process for helping practitioners work together more effectively to meet children's needs through sharing information legally and professionally. It's a significant element of the Change for Children programme. Early Support uses a Family File to help practitioners and families share information. It's important that integrated front line delivery and integrated processes using the Family File are understood to be part of wider initiatives to record and share information about children and families more efficiently.
Read more about information sharing as part of the Change for Children programme.
ContactPoint
ContactPoint will be the quick way to find out who else is working with the same child or young person, so they can co-ordinate support better. It is a basic online directory that will be available to authorised staff. It will hold a small amount of core information about every child in England under 18 contact details for their parents or carers and those services in contact with the child. It will not hold very sensitive information, where access is tightly controlled.
ContactPoint will not hold any case or assessment information but will indicate whether a service or practitioner holds an assessment under the CAF and whether they are a lead professional for that child.
Find out more about ContactPoint.
Read another Early Support resource alongside this text:
Information sharing, the Common Assessment Framework and Early Support provides a more substantial introduction to these elements of the Change for Children programme.
Associated documents
Information sharing, the Common Assessment Framework and Early Support
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Last updated on 20/08/2009
