Early Help

Every family goes through challenging times at some point. The early help system is a network of services, processes and interactions that aim to help children, young people and families at the earliest opportunity, in order to improve outcomes for children or prevent escalating need or risk.  Early help is for everybody, for families with children and young people of any age. And it’s their choice whether to have it or not.

Aligning with Families First Partnership programme reforms, the 2026 updates to Working Together include clarifying that Family Help now brings together Targeted Early Help and Section 17 support into a single, more seamless offer. 

Here is some more information about targeted early help on the Isles of Scilly.

Cornwall has a Multi-Agency Support and Safeguarding Hub (MASSH) which brings together professionals from social care, health, education and police to respond to concerns about children and young people.  

They provide: 

• Safeguarding responses for children at risk 
• Help and Support (Family Help)
• Advice and guidance for professionals, families and the public

Here is a useful resource from the NSPCC about what we mean by the terms early help and early intervention.