Early Help Assessment & RevEarly Help Assessment & Review Quality Assurance Tool

The purpose of this tool is to ensure that all Early Help Assessments undertaken in Walsall are quality assured to the same standard expected across the borough. The tool will be used by the Early Help Team to undertake this task once the assessment has been completed with the child/young person and parent/carer.

The Tool is used in conjunction with the Lead Professional Self Assessment Checklist

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY, AND WILL BE COMPLETED BY THE EARLY HELP TEAM ON RECEIPT OF YOUR ASSESSMENT/REVIEW PAPERWORK. IT WILL THEN BE RETURNED TO YOU AS A RECORD OF ASSESSMENT OUTCOME.

Childs Name: / Mosaic No: / Ethnicity: / Date of QA:
Disability: / QA assessor Name: / QA Assessor contact details:
Lead Professional:
Trained in Outcome Star: YES / NO not known
Attended EH Lead Professional Training: Yes – Health’s own
month/ year______ / Lead Professional Contact details (email address & phone number):
1 / Consent / YES / NO / N/A / Evidence
1a / Consent of parents / child/ young person gained at start of EHA (PART one)
1b / Consent to share information gained from parent/child/young person at completion of EHA
2 / Inclusive / YES / NO / N/A / Evidence
2a / ‘Voice of the Child’ – Has a discussion with the child / young person taken place? And is there evidence of this in the Assessment?
2b / Outcome Star completion (If applicable) – is the Lead Professional trained in Outcome Star?
Stars completed:
My Star/ Family Star/ Teen Star (please circle) / Include dates of Star completion:
2c / Have the thoughts and feelings of the parent / carer/child/young person been recorded?
YES / NO / N/A / Evidence
2d / Have both parents been involved in the assessment process? (are fathers included?)
2e / Where appropriate have any special arrangements been organised for the assessment? (interpreter, access)
2f / Does the assessment focus on what the child/young person and or parent/ carer want to achieve and does their voice thread through the assessment?
2g / Have parents, children and young people been encouraged to take on actions themselves where appropriate?
2h / Are you content that the assessment is not biased?
2i / Is the assessment clear - jargon free, concise language and is clear that parents, young people and children have understood the decisions made?
3 / Identifying and Addressing the Need / YES / NO / N/A / Evidence
3a / Is the reason clear for undertaking the EHA?
3b / Have the strengths of the child/young person and their family been explored?
3c / Are any diverse needs of the child/young person and family taken into account? For example– sexuality, disability, gender identity disorder
3d / Are risks, vulnerabilities & root causes identified and clear actions in place to manage this?
For example- bereavement, CSE, drug and alcohol misuse and ACE factors
3e / Are goals and actions clear and realistic in line with the needs of the child/ young person and their family?
3f / If there is an Outcome Star – do actions match where children/young people and parents are on the journey of change.
4 / Processes / YES / NO / N/A / Evidence
4a / Has the assessment, including actions been completed within the Walsall time scale?
(25 working days)
4b / Have all relevant agencies been invited and contributed to the EHA?
4c / Do action plans include names of who’s responsible and dates of action required by?
4d / Is there a copy of the paperwork evident on Mosaic?
4e / Is there evidence that parents have been sent a copy of the EHA?
Comments of Assessor – EHA / EHA QA Judgement / Tick
Outstanding
Good
Requires Improvement
Inadequate
Review (if applicable)
Are reviews taking place at appropriateintervalsbased on the child/young person’s needs? (approx 6-8 weeks)
Were the child/young person and or parent/carer present at the review and were views sought and utilised in planning the next steps and their comments recorded?
Have existing actions been reviewed and closed or updated and where appropriate have new actions been agreed and recorded?
Are new strengths, risks and vulnerabilities recorded?
Are difficulties recorded and escalated in engaging a service, or in services not delivering on agreed actions?
Is there clear evidence that progress is being made between reviews (as opposed to outputs) been met?
Comments of Assessor – / EHA QA Judgement / Tick
Outstanding
Good
Requires Improvement
Inadequate
Copy of QA given to Lead Professional: / Yes / No
Outcome of QA
To be discussed in Supervision with Lead Professional / Date Discussed
Action Plan set to improve practice / Date Action Plan set
Date shared with Lead Professional
Observation of practice scheduled / Date of Observation
Lead professional booked on training
Training Course and Date
Training Course and Date
Training Course and Date

GRADE DESCRIPTORS – Early Help Assessment and Early Help Review

Early Help Assessment / Early Help Review
1 / Outstanding / All elements of the Early Help Assessment demonstrate a focus on the child or young person with all elements of Lead Professional good practice (below) consistently present in all the quality assurance domain areas- consent,inclusivity, identification of and addressing of all needs, with Lead Professionals following the correct processes. / Timely reviews, working in partnership with children, young people parents and carers, with regularly reviewed actions addressing new strengths, risks, vulnerabilities, root causes and future difficulties with progress being made and difficulties escalated.
2 / Good / Lead Professional Guide - Good Practice Elements -
EHA Focuses on the needs and views of the child/young person –the assessment has provided a clear picture of what life is like for this child at that current time and it includes the ‘Childs voice’, building a picture of what positive change needs to happen to secure better outcomes for that child.
  • Child centred assessment informed by the views of the child as well as their family, (working in partnership with the family)
  • Clear analysis of needs including child/young person and their family’s strengths, concerns and any risks and vulnerabilities, root causes, and future likely predictable difficulties that need to be considered as part of the plan.
  • Lead Professional is clear on the reason for involvement and included other agencies in the process.
  • Lead Professionals have ensured that, fathers, new partners and extended family members are assessed and involved when considering the needs of a child at all stages of assessment.
  • A clear action plan that focuses on outcomes – what positive changes need to happen for the child/young person.
  • An action plan with clear accountabilities -it has clear roles and responsibilities for each agency, child/young person and their family as part of the plan.
  • Undertaken in a timely way.
/ Most areas of the above are being met
3 / Requires Improvement / There is some evidence as described above but the evidence is inconsistent and/or some areas absent. / Some areas of the above are being met
4 / Inadequate / The assessment does not provide evidence of what life is like for the child. Information is missing or significantly out of date. There is no evidence of review. There is no evidence of the child’s voice, and action plans are not outcome focused, assessments and reviews are out of timescale. / Limited areas of the above are being met

EHA QA Tool - September 2018 – Walsall Childrens Services, Early Help, GA