The origins of the principle ‘prevention is better than cure’ are uncertain with some attributing this to the Dutch philosopher, Desiderius Erasmus, and others the Italian physician, Bernadino Ramazzini.
However, it was perhaps most famously used by one of the founding fathers of the United States of America, Benjamin Franklin, who said in 1736 that ‘an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure’.
It’s a principle that is most commonly associated with the provision of healthcare. However, it has a much broader applicability and is certainly now embedded in the context of safeguarding children.
It has informed processes that, depending on where you live/practice, are described as ‘Early Help’, ‘Front Door’, ‘Families First’, ‘Targeted Early Help’ and ’Early Intervention’ (to name a few). Josh MacAlister’s 2022 Independent Review of Children’s Social Care made associated recommendations for a revolution in ‘Family Help’.
What is early intervention?
Common to all those processes, howsoever labelled, is an approach that provides effective early support (specific to identified needs/risks) to children and young people who are at risk of poor outcomes to prevent problems occurring or, when they do, to prevent them from worsening.
Josh MacAlister describes this as ‘wrapping practical support around families, helping them establish connections with others and sticking with them in the toughest times’. He describes its aim as being:
‘to improve children’s lives through supporting the family unit and strengthening family relationships, to enable children to thrive and keep families together, helping them to provide the safe, nurturing environments that children need’.
His proposals involve an amalgamation of work currently undertaken at both ‘Targeted Early Help’ and ‘Child in Need’ levels to form a new single offer which involves (amongst other things): –
- minimising handovers and assessment for families and maximising support;
- availability to any family facing significant challenges that could pose a threat to providing their child with a loving, stable, safe family life (i.e. not just those with a higher threshold of need or at risk of significant harm);
- destigmatising the provision of professional support;
- delivery of flexible, high quality and evidence led support by skilled professionals from a range of disciplines who have the time and capability to build trusting and supportive relationships;
- building on families’ strengths, drawing on the wider relationships that families have; and
- drawing on and coordinating the potential for support and advice from within local communities, including family hubs, schools and voluntary organisations.
The benefits of early intervention
The benefits of such an approach can be seen not only for the children, families and local authorities involved but society as a whole.
For children, these include…
- improved long-term outcomes – our January blog (Children in Care and the Criminal Justice System) referenced the link between looked after children and poor outcomes particularly in terms of education and offending behaviour;
- improved prospects of remaining in or being returned to the care of birth families thereby avoiding/minimising the emotional cost of separation; and
- reduced prospects of any harm being suffered escalating to a significant level.
For Local Authorities, these include…
- reduced need for an ongoing service and demand upon social workers’ time;
- reduced risk of escalation and the corresponding need to devote human and financial resources to further intervention whether at child protection level, within pre-proceedings or by way of court application;
- reduced need for children’s accommodation and the related cost of this; and
- changing a child’s experience of being parented sets the blueprint for their own future parenting capacity and, therefore, a reduced likelihood of future intervention being needed for the children’s own children.
Whilst it seems callous to consider a child’s welfare in terms of cost, as most would consider the prevention of harm as an appropriate end in itself, there are significant financial costs to society associated with children entering the care system. The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care identified that ‘The provision of public services for those who enter care are valued at £70,900 per year, compared to £26,900 for children who need a social worker’. These are costs that might have been avoided had effective support been provided at an earlier juncture.
The case for early intervention can, therefore, easily be made out. However, with many Local Authorities facing crisis (characterised by a continuing cycle of escalating need and crisis intervention and the prioritising of limited resources to meeting those immediate demands) it continues to be a challenge to rebalance the system and provide an effective early intervention service.
How Advanced CCA can help
Our panel of safeguarding experts now includes 140 Independent Social Workers and 40 Parenting Practitioners located nationally.
Coming from safeguarding backgrounds as Social Workers, CAFCASS Guardians or Family Support & Contact Workers, and being supported by our professional management team, they each have the experience, expertise and availability to promptly and accurately identify, assess and analyse needs/risks.
They also have the time & flexibility and can give the commitment to working with children and families, the wider family/support network and other involved professionals in a non-judgmental way to implement and oversee regimes of support targeted at meeting those specific needs/risks.
Our Single and Child In Need assessment services are complemented by the support services available from our panel which are as multi-faceted as you can imagine but, amongst others, include:-
- Practical support, advice and assistance delivered through a range of formats (group sessions, one to one, structured courses, workshops) & effective signposting;
- Parenting skills courses/role-modelling;
- Domestic abuse courses;
- Contact supervision/support;
- Positive activities; &
- Respite support.
Our panel would be delighted to support and coinvest in the children and families you’re working with, so if we can help please do get in touch.
