How to contact us for advice
We provide advice to parents, grandparents, relatives, friends and kinship carers who are involved with children’s services in England or need their help. 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.
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). For Textphone dial 18001 followed by the advice line number. Or you can ask us a question via email using our advice enquiry form.
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.
Our get help and advice section describes the processes that you and your family are likely to go through, so that you know what to expect. Our webchat service can help you find the information and advice on our website which will help you understand the law and your rights.
The Children Act 1989 defines harm as the ‘ill-treatment’ of a child or the ‘impairment’ of the child’s health or development. This includes harm caused by seeing or hearing someone else being ill-treated (e.g. a child witnessing domestic abuse).
Development means a child’s ‘physical, intellectual, emotional, social or behavioural development’. And ‘health’ means a child’s ‘physical or mental health’.
The definition of harm is set out in Section 31(9) of the Children Act 1989.
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