Introduction

When we talk about early intervention we mean identifying and providing effective early support to children and young people who are at risk of poor outcomes. We are not just focused on early years, although they are especially critical – we believe early intervention can improve the lives of children and young people at any age, so we are focused on children from pregnancy to age 18.

Early intervention is about providing support before problems become entrenched and costly. The kind of support that is more targeted and intensive than universal services, but is less intensive than the support that is needed when problems are already acute. Early intervention covers a broad range of activities, such as home visiting programmes in the early years, schools-based programmes to improve children's social and emotional skills, and mentoring schemes for young people at risk of crime. It is important to note that not all early intervention is effective or has yet developed evidence of effectiveness and at the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) we focus on effective early intervention, which leads to positive impacts on children and families.

We’ve learned a lot of lessons since the EIF was set up, but looking back, five of these really stand out.

Start with what your audiences’ need

What Works Centres exist to bridge the gap between evidence, policy and practice. To do this well, it's crucial to start by defining who your audiences are and to then work to understand what they need.

Early intervention is a cross-sectoral (and cross-governmental) issue, and can help improve outcomes in early years services, schools, policing, the National Health Service, local authority early help services and children's social care (EIF, 2018). This means that EIF has a wide range of audiences and a line of sight that extends from politicians and Whitehall policy makers across a number of different government departments, right through to many different types of local service managers and frontline practitioners.