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.
This is a legal regulation that allows children’s services to place a child with a family member or friend in an emergency. Children’s services will have to carry out certain basic checks about the family member’s home life. They will need to do a brief assessment of their ability to care for and protect the child. But the regulation allows the placement to continue for up to 16 weeks while a full assessment is completed. This timeframe can be extended once, by eight weeks, to a maximum of 24 weeks.
The full assessment must be completed during this time.
These placements are authorised by Regulation 24 of the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review Regulations 2010.
Your donation will help more families access expert legal advice and support from Family Rights Group.
Donate Now