Early help is early, coordinated and multi-professional support for expectant parents and families with children aged 0 to 3 years.

Early help services are, for example:

• Welcome visits for newborns,
• Health-oriented family support from family midwives or family health and pediatric nurses,
• Volunteer family mentors,
• parenting skills courses or
• accompanied parent meetings

The special thing about early help is that it is offered in a multi-professional and cross-system network. In accordance with Section 3 of the Act on Information and Cooperation in Child Protection, each youth welfare office district must maintain an Early Help Network for this purpose.

Child daycare facilities, family centers and daycare centers make a significant contribution to reconciling family life and work and supporting equal opportunities for all children with their educational, upbringing and care mandate. This is why they are included as important partners in the Early Help networks. With their work, early childhood education and care services can build "bridges" to families and to the city districts. They know the potential of families, but also their burdens. Together with their diverse cooperation partners, they start where there is a need for support. Their day-to-day contact with families allows them low-threshold access to parents and referral to a suitable early help service. In some constellations, they can also be providers of early help services themselves or make their premises available for early help.