Social care support for children with SEND

Social care support for families with children and young people with SEND can come in different levels, depending on your needs: 

1. The first level can come from universal services. These are services that everyone can use, such as schools. 
2. The second level can come from our prevention and Early Help services. They work to stop family worries turning into bigger issues. 
3. The third level can come from our Family Help and high needs teams. They work to support children and young people with complex or ongoing needs. 

We want children, young people and families to get the right support at the right time, so they can thrive. This is part of our Flourish ambition.

There are services which everyone can use. We call these 'universal services'. They include:  

• Charities  
• Support groups  
• Schools  
• GPs  
• Community activities  

Your GP or your child's school or nursery can direct you to services that can support you.    

Other universal services you may find useful include:   

• Norfolk early childhood and family service   
• Family learning courses   
• Just One Norfolk  

Prevention and Early Help services aim to give you information, advice and guidance to stop family worries turning into bigger issues.   

Early Help 

Our Early Help service is for children and their families. You can get Early Help support from:  

• Your child's school or nursery  
• Your GP  
• Best Start Family Hubs. Find your local Family Hub or request support from Best Start Family Hubs online.  

Early Help support might also include:  

• Having an Early Help Assessment Plan  
• Support from the School and Community Teams  
• Support from Short Breaks  

Short Breaks   

Short Breaks are for children aged 5-17 with disabilities. They involve activities which support children to:  

• Explore new opportunities  
• Form friendships  
• Become more independent  

Family Help and high needs services are for children and young people with complex or ongoing needs. 

Family Help teams 

Family Help teams provide intervention to support your family through crisis or at difficult times. 

Family Help teams take a layered approach:  

1. The first layer of support comes from the Core Family Help team  
2. The second layer of support comes from services aligned to Family Help teams  

Core Family Help team  

 The Core Family Help team can consist of:   

• Social workers   
• Family practitioners   
• Intensive support workers   
• Domestic abuse workers   
• Child protection experts   
• Children with disabilities social workers and family practitioners   
• Intervention experts   
• Occupational therapists   

This Core Family Help team will:  

• Listen to you, your child or young person and your family network  
• Complete a needs assessment. This could be a social care assessment or an early help assessment depending on your level of need.   
• Provide a range of appropriate interventions and support 

Services aligned to Family Help teams

Services aligned to Family Help teams provide the secondary layer of support. This team can consist of:   

• Family time team   
• Designated social care function   
• Enhanced family help team (neglect)   
• Personal advisors  
• Adolescent family help team   
• Substance misuse workers   
• Preventing homelessness team   
• Therapeutic service   
• Targeted youth support service   
• Community assessment team   
• Pre-birth and recurrent care team   
• Court work experts   
• Court work facilitators  
• New roads and crisis outreach   

The services aligned to Family Help teams will step in as needed to provide flexible and responsive support as your family needs change.  

Children with Disabilities (CWD) teams 

Children with Disabilities (CWD) teams are part of Family Help Teams. They support:  

• Children with severe, profound or multiple disabilities  
• Children who need long-term specialist support  

CWD teams also provide:   

• Visits to your family   
• Advice on SEND and disability  
• Specialist workshops   

How to request support from Family Help Teams  

Contact the children's advice and duty service (CADS) by calling 0344 800 8020 and following the options for children's social care.  

How we decide the level of support  

Once you CADS, they use the Norfolk Continuum of Needs Guidance to decide your level of support.   

This guidance is for children and young people in a wide range of situations. It focuses on what is the best way to support the child or young person.