The Family Strengths and Needs Toolkit is a key resource for practitioners across Somerset when working with families where neglect is a concern. Its structured, child‑centred approach helps professionals capture what can often feel difficult to evidence—particularly chronic, cumulative neglect.
Why Practitioners Value It
Recent practitioner feedback highlights how the toolkit supports clearer, more confident decision‑making:
- It brings the child’s lived experience into focus. By guiding practitioners to consider what life feels like for the child day‑to‑day, the toolkit ensures the child’s voice is central to assessments.
- It helps evidence concerns that are hard to articulate. Practitioners report that the toolkit breaks down complex observations, making patterns of neglect easier to describe and escalate when needed.
- It supports meaningful conversations with families. The balanced focus on strengths and needs encourages open, transparent discussion with parents and carers, promoting understanding and shared goals for change.
Working Alongside the EHA
The Early Help Assessment provides a useful overview, but practitioners consistently find that the toolkit adds essential depth. It captures the detail, nuance, and cumulative impact of what practitioners are seeing, providing a stronger foundation for planning, review, and escalation.
Why It Matters
Neglect is complex—and often hidden in plain sight. The Family Strengths and Needs Toolkit helps practitioners build a clear, comprehensive picture of a child’s experience, ensuring concerns are recognised, communicated, and acted upon at the earliest opportunity.
By embedding the toolkit into everyday practice, we can strengthen professional judgement, improve multi‑agency decision‑making, and ultimately achieve better outcomes for children and families.
In Practitioners’ Own Words
“I have found the Strengths and Needs Toolkit to be an extremely valuable resource when evidencing and articulating concerns. Chronic neglect can be particularly challenging to capture in a clear and measurable way, especially when escalating issues to Children’s Social Care. The structured format of the toolkit enables practitioners to break down their observations, reflect more deeply on the child’s circumstances, and clearly demonstrate the impact of neglect over time.
What I have found especially helpful is how the toolkit prompts practitioners to consider the situation from the child’s perspective, focusing on their lived experience within the home environment. This approach ensures that the child’s voice remains central to the assessment.
While the Early Help Assessment provides a useful overview and headline information, the Strengths and Needs Toolkit offers the detailed, nuanced evidence that really matters. It captures the reality of what practitioners are seeing, making it a vital tool for building a clear, comprehensive picture of concern and supporting robust decision making.”– Jennifer Vernon, Team Manager, Public Health Nursing – West Somerset
