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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Safeguarding

This is a general term that refers to the action taken to keep children protected from harm.

Government statutory guidance called Working Together 2023 defines safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children as:

  • Providing help and support to meet the needs of children as soon as problems emerge
  • Protecting children from maltreatment, whether that is within or outside the home, including online
  • Preventing impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development
  • Ensuring children grow up in situations that will help keep them safe and provide them with effective care
  • Promoting the upbringing of children with their birth parents, or their wider family through a kinship care arrangement, whenever possible and where this is in the best interests of the children
  • Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes in line with the outcomes set out in the Children’s Social Care National Framework.

Children’s services have overarching responsibility for safeguarding children and young people in their area. They do this by working in partnership with other key agencies, including health services and the police.

All agencies that come into contact or work with children should have their own safeguarding policies. This includes schools, hospitals, charities and sports clubs.

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