Research Report: ‘We Should Have Been Helped From Day One': a Unique Perspective

Authors Claire Easton, Emily Lamont, Robert Smith, Helen Aston

Published by National Foundation for Educational Research, September 2013

Summary

Researchers from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NfER) and Research in Practice supported local authority researchers, through the Local Authority Research Consortium (LARC), to investigate ways to tackle the neglect of children through early intervention. In particular they looked at how authorities respond to neglect, what helps and hinders engaging families in early intervention services, perceived gaps in provision and what can be done to improve this area of work. They focused on low-level to moderate cases that fall below the threshold for statutory intervention from child protection services.

The report – “We Should Have Been Helped From Day One”: a Unique Perspective From Children, Families And Practitioners – is the fifth from the LARC and draws on data gathered from more than 40 parents, children and young people and 105 practitioners across nine local authorities. Researchers used a scale developed by Southampton Local Safeguarding Children Board to identify families with different levels of need below the threshold for statutory intervention.

These were: level two – families who mostly met a child’s needs; level three – families where children had some unmet needs and received limited interaction and affection; and level four