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.
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.
No. Parents or carers can decide not to accept child in need services.
Sometimes parents or carers may feel that they do not want to accept the help suggested. If a parent or carer feels like this it is a good idea for them to talk things through with the social worker. Or with another practitioner involved with their child. The parent or carer can:
If a parent or carer does not accept the help or services offered, the social worker involved may worry about whether the child and family may struggle, and things may get worse. They may look at whether children’s services need to start child protection enquiries or recommend a child protection conference.
See our Child protection page for more information.
If children’s services are not worried about the child’s welfare, then they may close the child’s case.
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