What is Early Help?
Early Help means taking immediate action to support a child, young person or their family as soon as a problem emerges. By this, we mean responding promptly if a child is at immediate risk of harm or has significant complex needs, but equally Early Help can support you with basic advice and guidance. You can be supported at any stage in a child’s life from pre-birth to adulthood and this applies to any problem or need that you can’t manage on your own. Early Help requires agencies to work together as soon as a problem arises. The aim is to meet the need early and avoid a problem escalating.
As soon as a professional is made aware that a child has any needs which may require the involvement of more than one professional, they should talk to you and your child to offer advice and support. They will then assess your needs in line with guidance from the Birmingham Safeguarding Children’s Board, ‘Right Service, Right Time Framework ’. The assessment aims to work consensually with you and your family to find the best solutions to support your needs.
Our Early Help Team is in the Accident and Emergency Department based at the Birmingham Children’s Hospital site. You can pop in to speak with someone or you can be referred through a healthcare professional if you or your family are being treated here.
Citizens Advice Bureau
The Citizens Advice Bureau is a network of independent charities that offer confidential advice online, over the phone, and face-to-face for free. They are an independent service and are completely impartial, so can help you with issues including benefits, work, debt and money, housing, family, legal, immigration, health and much more. Their website allows you to “chat” with an advisor online or you can find your local centre and contact them via phone or their online contact form.
Main Advice Line (England): 0800 144 8848
Relay UK - if you can't hear or speak on the phone, you can type what you want to say: 18001 then 0800 144 8884. You can use Relay UK with an app or a textphone. There’s no extra charge to use it.
You can also check the national Citizens Advice website directly for other contact numbers related to specific issues or concerns.
If you need immediate support and are a service user, patient or family member, we have partnered with Citizen’s Advice Birmingham and now have a dedicated CAB Advisor at both our Women's and Children's Hospital sites throughout the week from Monday to Friday, 9am until 4pm. There will be an opportunity to attend brief drop-in sessions for all or if you are in need of more in-depth conversations with our advisor, you will be able to book a consultation via our referral form below.
Warmer Homes West Midlands
Starting in August 2022, we will be working alongside a support service for our patients, families and staff - Warmer Homes West Midlands. They provide free, impartial energy advice for those living in fuel poverty across the local authority areas in the West Midlands.
They support consumers in becoming more confident and independent in respect to their household energy costs. Warmer Homes will have a stall every two weeks at both our Children's Hospital and at our Women's Hospital. On Tuesdays, they will be set up in the Children's Outpatients waiting area, and on Thursdays, they will be at the Women's Hospital in the front Foyer. This service is to support staff as well as patients and families. It is a free service that is really beneficial considering the current cost of living crisis. We want to be able to reach and support as many people as possible.
For more details contact the Patient Experience Team at bwc.patientexperience@nhs.net or you can find more information about them on their website