How to contact us for advice

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Our advice service

Are you a parent, kinship carer relative or friend of a child who is involved with, or who needs the help of, children’s services in England? We can help you understand processes and options when social workers or courts are making decisions about your child’s welfare.

Our advice service is free, independent and confidential.

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By phone or email

To speak to an adviser, please call our free and confidential advice line 0808 801 0366 (Monday to Friday 9.30am to 3pm, excluding Bank Holidays). Or you can ask us a question via email using our advice enquiry form.

Discuss on our forums

Our online advice forums are an anonymous space where parents and kinship carers (also known as family and friends carers) can get legal and practical advice, build a support network and learn from other people’s experiences.

Advice on our website

Our get help and advice section has template letters, advice sheets and resources about legal and social care processes. On Monday and Wednesday afternoons, you can use our webchat service to chat online to an adviser.

 

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How our Advice and Advocacy Service makes a Difference

We measure the impact of our Advice and Advocacy Service using an evaluation model developed in partnership with New Philanthropy Capital, which shows that:

  • our advice and advocacy makes a positive difference to the lives of the families and their children
  • the advice, advocacy and information we provide is excellent quality and delivered to the highest standards
  • the service leads to significant savings in public spending.

Summary of our service delivery, 2023-24:

Summary of our Advice and Advocacy Service delivery, 2023-24

Quotes from people who have used our advice and advocacy service: "The lady I spoke with was amazing at explaining why the social services had put things in place, giving me advice on my next steps and actually being the first person that I felt listened to throughout the whole ordeal. The information she gave me was crucial, to helping me process what had happened and how to make things better." Mother who called our advice line "FRG is an invaluable service!…. FRG are non-judgemental, sensitive to family needs, treat every case individually and will respond personally, to answer any questions. From my personal experience the information is invaluable and credible…. I could not have made it through the two-year dire situation my family was placed in without FRG information and advice." Great-Grandmother who used our live webchat, online enquiry form and kinship carers forum

Our 2024 evaluation found:

1. Immediately after calling our advice line:

  • 94% said that our service was helpful
  • 89% felt that they had a better understanding of what they had to do
  • 85% said that they felt more able to cope
  • 83% felt that they understood the law better
  • 78% felt that they had a better understanding of children’s services procedures.

2. Four to six months after calling our advice line (showing the longer-term impact of our advice):

  • 84% had a better understanding of what they had to do
  • 70% felt they had a better understanding of children’s services procedures
  • 54% felt better able to work with the social worker/children’s services
  • 38% agreed that the support they received from us made a positive difference to the local authority plan and/or services for their child/children.

3. Savings in public spending:

Our Advice and Advocacy Service evaluation model includes an economic tool, built by New Philanthropy Capital, to estimate the public savings created by the advice line. The evaluation shows that advice from our advice line can lead to positive longer-term outcomes for families, so that they are more able to understand what is happening and are more able to work with children’s services.

Over a third of the families who contacted our advice line last year reported that our advice made a positive difference to the local authority plan or support in place for their children. Our advice means that some children can remain safely at home with their parents or wider family, and can lead save public money by averting the need for long term or more intensive statutory involvement.

We revised the economic evaluation tool with New Philanthropy Capital in early 2024 and used it to measure the impact of the advice line from 2022-2024. It found that the advice line saved an average of £23 in care costs avoided and statutory costs avoided for every £1 invested in it. This suggests that the service has achieved a saving of £24.5 million in public spending across the two years.

Savings in public spending - Advice and Advocacy Service

More information about the evaluation:

Advice and Advocacy Annual Report to the Department for Education, 2023-24

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Past evaluations (2020-2022):

Summary: Telephone Advice Line Impact Report, April 2020 - March 2022

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Full Report: Telephone Advice Line Evaluation and Impact Report, April 2020 – March 2022

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People pie chart

Our funding means we can currently only help 4 in 10 people

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