Early help family practitioners

Early help family practitioners are trained and experienced practitioners based in the community in the six early help hubs in Oswestry, Market Drayton, Sunflower House (Shrewsbury), Crowmoor (Shrewsbury), Ludlow and Bridgnorth.

The role of a family practitioner is to act as lead professional within the early help process. As part of the wider early help offer in Shropshire, one of their functions is to coordinate the early help plan. They'll make sure that the most appropriate services are in place to meet the assessed needs of children and young people with SEND, and work together with families to help children and young people with SEND to enjoy a happy, safe, healthy childhood and reach their full potential.

The practitioner will:

  • Coordinate family meetings as part of an early help plan
  • Support families, alongside schools, through the graduated pathway of early help and support
  • Contribute to and support a child or young person’s education, health and care plan
  • Involve specialist services in the early help plan, eg Autism West Midlands, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and housing support
  • Provide parenting support using the Solihull Approach to parenting, specifically 'Understanding your Child with SEND'
  • Provide emotional support and containment to parent carers and empower them in their decision making
  • Work directly with children and young people with SEND, and their siblings, to gather their wishes and feelings. This is done through using a variety of tools and approaches and, where appropriate, through observations to ensure that children’s lived experiences and additional needs are acknowledged and responded to through support which is appropriate to their stage of development and to meet their individual needs
  • Support children and young people with SEND with their independence skills and for preparation into adulthood
  • Signpost parent carers of children and young people with SEND to specialist services, such as the Shropshire Information, Advice and Support Service (IASS), Beam (emotional health and wellbeing service), the SPECTRA Inclusion Support Team, The Parenting Team and Strengthening Families employment advisors, to help meet their child's or family's individually assessed needs
  • Support families to identify, and encourage them to attend, All-In short breaks and appropriate positive activities within the local community, to support children and young people’s social development and to reduce family isolation

Early help family support can be requested through the completion of a whole family assessment, which can be done by your child’s early years provider, school, college or health professional.

Further information can be found on our early help pages or by contacting Shropshire Council’s First Point of Contact (FPOC) on 0345 678 9021.