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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.
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.
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.
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 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.
The Children and Families Act 2014 amended the Children Act 1989 to give any parent who is caring for a disabled child the right to an assessment of their own need for support. This is called a parent carer’s needs assessment.
Any parent who is caring for a disabled child can ask for a parent carer’s needs assessment. This will be carried out by the local authority.
By law, the local authority has a duty to carry out an assessment whenever it appears to a social worker that a parent carer may need support. So even if the parent has not asked for an assessment.
Any other adult in the family (i.e. not a parent of the child) who is providing ‘regular and substantial care’ for the child can also ask for an assessment. They must do so under different legislation – the Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995.
After the assessment, the local authority must decide whether the parent has support needs, whether the child has support needs and how it is going to meet those needs (including whether needs can be met through a child in need plan under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989).
Contact a Family’s factsheet Carers’ assessments – help for parent carers.
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