Help and support services

We can offer support regarding:

• behaviour
• family relationships
• problems at school
• budgets or debt
• children's routines
• other difficulties you are experiencing

How to apply for support

To apply for support you need to follow our Early Help procedure which applies to all professionals working with, or coming into contact with children, young people and families.

Our Stockton-on-Tees Multi-Agency Response Team (SMART) will help you to access the right support. 

SMART will:

• provide advice and guidance to children, families and professionals
• triage requests for help and support, including direct work with families to develop their own support plans
• signpost children and families to the right services and/or self-help resources
• lead on social care advice for children's Educational Health Care Plans (EHCPs)
• facilitate step down support from statutory services into help and support 
• work closely with our Single Point of Contact (SPOC) services in schools 

Any organisation of agency currently involved with a child or family can make a referral. A parent or guardian's consent is required before any referral is made. To make a referral, contact SMARTAdminMailbox@stockton.gov.uk or call 01642 528808.

Safer Referral

A Safer Referral is required for those children that are at risk of significant harm.

Visit the Tees Safeguarding Children Procedures website to complete a referral

Support for the whole family

If one person in the family has a problem, this may be a child, young person or adult, it can affect the whole family.

We offer the following support to families:

Family Solutions Team

A team of Family Workers who work directly with families, children and young people to support them with single or multiple issues including:

• housing
• debt management
• behaviour and routines
• boundaries
• relationship difficulties

Families can access this service by speaking to any professional they are working with, who can make a referral on your behalf.

Family Group Conference

A Family Group Conference (FGC) is a family-led meeting in which a child's wider family network comes together to plan future arrangements for the child. The family plan will ensure that the child is safe, and their wellbeing is promoted. FGCs utilise a family's own skills, strengths, and personal knowledge of their family situation to resolve difficulties.

Further information

View our Children and Young People's Strategy 2019 - 2023 for further information.  (PDF) [840KB]

We have a dedicated team to help and support professionals and families through the Early Help process, contact our team on schoolsupportadmin@stockton.gov.uk or 01642 524188 or 01642 526123.