First Response is the family front door for children’s services in Somerset. It consists of social workers, Family Front Door Practitioners, team managers and overseen by an operations manager. The role of the Family Front Door is to determine the level of intervention for a family and whether support is required from either Family Intervention Service or statutory social work team.
A multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH) has been created which works alongside the team. The MASH has allowed for a multi-agency framework to be introduced to decision making and the co-location of agencies to ensure that safeguarding referrals and information is shared quickly to safeguard children and young people.