This summary guide explains what is involved for practitioners in a Family Help or early help response after concerns have been raised that a child may have been sexually abused. It explains how you can centre the child in the development and delivery of a Family Help or early help assessment and plan.
It can also help other practitioners to understand how they can best support the child and their family during this time.
What is a Family Help or early help response?
After child sexual abuse concerns have been raised, a Family Help (in England) or early help (in Wales) response may be proposed if it is decided that:
- the child is not currently at risk of sexual abuse – either because the abuse took place in the past, or because the source of the risk has been removed – and feels safe, and
- the child and their family still need support, and
- the parent(s) have given their consent to working with Family Help or early help services to address any support needs, or (in the case of older children) the child has requested support.
Any agency working with a child and their family may decide that this response should be offered to them – or it may be that, once a child protection enquiry or multi-agency assessment has been completed, a Family Help or early help response is considered an appropriate way to support the child and their family. Alternatively, the child and family may have been supported through a child protection plan or a child in need plan, after which some continuing support and help is felt to be beneficial.
The family will need to agree to a Family Help or early help response being started.
A holistic assessment will be undertaken, drawing on information from multi-agency partners, and will usually lead to a plan which addresses the needs of the child, their non-abusing parents and other family members. It is essential that the assessment makes clear the concerns about child sexual abuse, the impact on the child, their siblings and the whole family. The plan – which should be accessible to and jointly monitored by all the agencies working with the child and family – should address the current impact, and consider the future impact, of child sexual abuse and how this will be addressed.
The team around the family/child will meet to deliver the Family Help plan or early help plan and review its progress regularly so that it continues to address the child’s safety and support needs. The lead practitioner will be responsible for ensuring that these actions are carried out.
In addition to the child’s parents and (depending on their age and developmental stage) the child themselves, the team around the child will comprise practitioners working with the child. These may include, for example, the Designated Safeguarding Lead at the child’s school, the school nurse, their nursery worker, their health visitor, their GP, their counsellor, the family’s housing officer, youth workers, domestic abuse specialists, and staff from relevant voluntary services.
The current reforms to the child welfare system may impact on arrangements for Family Help/early help support, but the core principles outlined here will remain important.
Under the Families First Partnership framework in England, the family is referred to a multi-agency Family Help team. The family will be assigned a single Family Help Lead Practitioner (FHLP) – who may be a social worker or other professional such as a family support worker or school lead – to coordinate a multi-disciplinary ‘team around the family/child’.
The equivalent of a Family Help team in Wales is the Early Help Hub.
How may the child be feeling?
A Family Help or early help assessment may cause the child to feel a complex range of emotions:
- They may feel relieved that action is being taken, but anxious about the involvement of practitioners and what it means for their family.
- Common feelings include fear, embarrassment, concern about being taken into care, and vulnerability if the person who abused them is still at large.
- They may worry about being blamed or causing distress to their family, and responsible for statutory agencies' involvement.
Once a Family Help or early help plan is in place, the child should feel that this helps them move forward – but they may resent the plan if they have been excluded from or not informed about its development.
Children highlight the importance of being treated as an equal, having practitioners communicate sensitively, and feeling relaxed and supported.
“Sometimes you don’t want to say some things to your parents. [The social workers] do it for you so they do it in a nicer way and they know what to say.”
“If they treat you like a kid you resent telling them something, so you don’t bother, but if you’re treat like an equal then you want to share things.”
“They were trying to put things in place for my mum and dad to handle my behaviour but would go about it the wrong way. I was 14 at the time and she was like, ‘Right you need to tell her she has to be in at 7:30pm.’ No kids my age were coming in then. She was making things up like, she’d put a plan together and none of it was shown to my mum and dad and they had to go through with it.”
“They’d take me out to places, just so I’d feel a bit more relaxed. They were there when you need them.”
For the sources of the quotations above, please download our full guide to this stage of the Response Pathway.
The assessment should be carried out in partnership with the child, their non-abusing family members, and relevant practitioners who know the child well.
- Follow the assessment process outlined in your local guidance.
- Consider how the personal characteristics of the child and their family members might increase their vulnerability and shape their response to child sexual abuse and the development of a Family Help or early help plan.
- Consider the context of the sexual abuse – whether it took place or there was a risk that it might take place in the family environment or outside the home (including online), and whether the child themselves has engaged in harmful sexual behaviour.
- Identify and address any communication needs within the family, including needs related to language, learning disability, physical disability or neurodivergence.
- Talk to the child, ideally without other family members present, and consider their preferences for when and where to talk, and any barriers to them talking. Open conversations about their worries can help them feel heard and supported.
- Talk to the child's non-abusing parent(s) to better understand the circumstances, draw on their unique knowledge of their child, and explore their understanding of how the family works. Consider what support they might need themselves.
If a police investigation takes place during an early help assessment, the assessment should continue unaffected. The lead practitioner should stay in touch and share relevant information with the police officer.
If you suspect at any point in the assessment that the child may not be living in a safe environment, an early help response will not be appropriate – talk to your manager to determine whether the child should be referred (or referred back) to children’s social services and/or the police.
At the conclusion of the assessment, a plan will be developed in partnership with the family. The lead practitioner should ensure that the plan:
- explicitly acknowledges the concerns of child sexual abuse that were raised in the referral and/or the multi-agency assessment of the child
- takes account of the context in which the sexual abuse took place or was in danger of taking place – if an adult family member sexually abused the child, for example, the plan will need to address the disruption caused to the family’s day-to-day life, while a plan in response to sexual abuse online should keep the child safe while recognising the important role of technology in their everyday life
- focuses on and addresses the child’s needs, and their family’s needs, arising from those concerns
- has clear objectives – it should specifically state what needs to change, and how and when it will be reviewed.
The plan’s recommendations for support to address the impacts of the abuse may cover topics such as relations within the family, friendships, education, finance, health and wellbeing. Work with the child and their non-abusing family members to find out how they would like their situation to improve and what types of support they would like.
Ensure that the child is referred for support from an independent sexual violence adviser (ISVA) or a child and young person’s sexual violence advocate (CYPSVA), if this has not already been done.
Encourage the family to communicate openly – with you and between themselves – about the sexual abuse, and work with them to understand any vulnerabilities which could impair the parent(s)’ ability to protect their child(ren) from further abuse. Help the parent(s) to develop positive parent–child relationships.
External links
- Good practice guidance on working with parents with a learning disability [Working Together with Parents Network]
- Social Work Culturagrams website
- Independent sexual violence adviser: Statutory guidance [Ministry of Justice]
- Find an ISVA [The Survivors Trust]