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About early help

What early help is

Early help is support that some children and families need to be healthy, safe and achieve their full potential. 

Early help services aim to stop any problems from getting worse and needing intervention.

Some early help services are universal which means they're available to everyone, for example, school, healthcare, children and family centres. 

Other early help services, like our Family Early Help service, provides more targeted help with issues that these universal services cannot.

Who it's for

Early help is for:

  • parents, children and families
  • every stage of a child or young person's life up to aged 18, or 25 if they have special educational needs or disabilities (SEND)

You might need extra support with:

  • parenting or your child's behaviour
  • you or your child's health or emotional needs
  • debt, finances or the cost of living
  • a crisis or bereavement
  • domestic abuse