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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.
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Children’s services used to be known as ‘social services’. Every local authority (council) has a children’s services department. They have two main roles. These are to support children and families and protect vulnerable children.
Laws and government guidance explain what children’s services should do when they become involved with families. But children’s services are organised differently in different areas. So the way they do things and services available can vary.
There are different ways children’s services can become involved with children and their families in England. Some types of involvement are voluntary. This means children’s services and others provide help if the parent or carer agrees.
No. The law says if a child may be at risk of harm, children’s services must take steps to support or protect them. This is even if the parent or carer does not want that to happen.
See our Why? pages which aim to provide more information about some of the most common reasons social workers may become involved with children and families.
Social workers from children’s services departments should always work in partnership with families to keep children safe and at home where possible. They should explore what help and support is available within the wider family and friends’ network.
Follow this link for important advice about this.
A child and family may not experience every kind of involvement shown. And the way that children’s services are involved may change over time. This will depend on different things including:
Universal services
There are a range of services that all children have access to. These are called ‘universal’ services.
The range of universal services available depend on a child’s:
Universal services are provided by different agencies. This includes health and education. Examples of universal services include access to a GP, health visitor or a children’s centre. Children’s services do not need to be involved for children and families to access universal services.
Family help
In some local areas, early help and child in need are together described as ‘family help’.
Early help
Early help aims for agencies to work together to provide support as soon as problems emerge. This is because tackling a problem early can be the best way to help. Early help can also be provided to stop problems from getting worse. Education (schools, nurseries), housing, and health services are all examples of agencies.
Early help can be given to a family with a child up to age 18. So, the child may be a baby, toddler, at primary school or a teenager.
Early help is voluntary. It is support that can only be given if the parent or carer agrees.
Social workers are not involved in early help assessments or providing early help services. But sometimes social workers ask early help services to support children and families they are working with.
See our Early help page for more information.
Child in need
A child in need is a child who is thought to need extra help from children’s services if they are to achieve or maintain ‘a reasonable standard of health or development’. All disabled children are classed as children in need.
Children’s services should carry out a child in need assessment to:
See our Child in need page for more information.
Child protection
If children’s services receive information that makes them suspect a child has been harmed or is likely to suffer significant harm they must investigate. This is called making child protection enquiries. They have to do this by law.
If a child is thought to be likely to suffer significant harm an initial child protection conference must take place. This is a type of meeting. It will include:
If the conference thinks a child has suffered significant harm (or is likely to) then:
It is important that parents and carers understand:
See our Child protection page for more information.
Pre-proceedings
This involvement is sometimes referred to as a pre-proceedings meeting or PLO meeting. PLO stands for Public Law Outline. The PLO sets out the legal process children’s services must follow when considering starting care proceedings.
At this time Children’s services will write to the parent or carer. This letter is a called a letter before proceedings.
It should:
It is very important for parents to attend pre-proceedings meeting and ask a solicitor specialising in children’s law to go with them. See our Pre-proceedings page for more information about getting ready for a pre-proceedings meeting.
If children’s services remain worried about a child’s safety and welfare then they may decide to apply to the Family Court to ask for an order. This could be an order asking the court to allow the child to be removed.
Court proceedings
If there are still concerns a child’s safety and welfare, children’s services may apply for a court order. The order they apply for will depend on the situation.
If children’s services think that a child may be at immediate risk of significant harm in their parents’ care, they can apply to the court for an emergency protection order. These orders are made under section 44 of the Children Act 1989. Applications for emergency protection order are made where children’s services think a situation is too urgent to wait to start care proceedings. The order allows children’s services to remove a child. Or allows them to arrange for a child to remain somewhere – in hospital for example.
If children’s services think the Family Court needs to:
they will apply to start care proceedings. This is the process of applying to the Family Court for a care or supervision order. Children’s services have to show that the child:
Children’s services can ask the Family Court to make a court order to allow them to remove a child from their parents’ care. This is called an interim care order. It is a short-term order. When it is in place a child becomes looked after in the care system by children’s services.
Children’s services have to show the court what they have done to support the family already. And show there is an urgent need to remove the child because their safety demands it. Safety includes physical safety. And psychological and emotional well-being.
See our Care (and related) proceedings page for more information about the different orders children’s services can apply to the court for.
The first steps children’s services must take if they receive information about a child include deciding:
A range of laws and guidance come together to explain this. But there are five important principles which guide the ways children’s services should make decisions and work. These are the building blocks of the child welfare system.
1. Welfare of the child
The Children Act 1989 is the leading piece of child welfare law in England. It includes many duties on children’s services relating to the welfare of children including:
If the Family Court needs to make decisions about the care and upbringing of a child then the welfare of the child has to be the ‘paramount consideration’ (section 1 Children Act 1989).
This means the child’s welfare is always the court’s main concern. The key question for the court is: “what is in the child’s best interests?”
See our Care proceedings page for more information about how the court make decisions and children’s welfare.
2. Children raised within their family
Government guidance confirms that ‘children are best looked after within their families, with their parents playing a full part in their lives, unless compulsory intervention in family life is necessary’ (see Working Together 2023 at paragraph 12 on page 11).
The general legal duties on children’s services mean that they should aim to keep children safe, well cared for and, at home unless this would place them at risk (see section 17 of the Children Act 1989).
If a child cannot be raised by their parents, children’s services should first look at whether there is anyone in the child’s family and friends’ network that can care for them.
See our Children living with relatives and friends page for further information.
3. Parental responsibility
A person with parental responsibility is responsible for the care and wellbeing of their child. Section 3 of the Children Act 1989 explains parental responsibility as “All the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority, which by law a parent has in relation to the child…”
Unless a court order says something different, a person with parental responsibility can make important decisions about a child’s life. For example:
Only through a court order can children’s services share parental responsibility for a child.
See our A-Z entry for Parental responsibility for more information.
4. Partnership working
Children’s services should work in partnership with children and families. This is clear in government guidance (see Working Together 2023 at paragraph 10 and 11 on page 11).
Day to day, partnership working includes:
5. Fair process and respect for human rights
The Human Rights Act 1998 applies to all public bodies. This includes children’s services and the family court. This means they must take account of a person’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.
This includes:
Actions and decisions taken by children’s services or the family courts must also take account of the human rights of children which are also protected under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
More information about human rights can be found is on the website of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
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