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.
1. The starting point – how children’s services should work with families:
Children’s services 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.
2. If children’s services are worried a child may not be safe at home, they may decide they need to begin a pre-proceedings process:
During a pre-proceedings process, children’s services will assess the family and consider whether they need to begin care proceedings to keep the child safe. The parents or carers will have the chance to show whether they are able to care safely for their child. See our Pre-proceedings page for more information.
3. But if children’s services think immediate steps need to be taken to protect a child. They may:
4. Or children’s services may start care proceedings so they can ask the Family Court to:
See our Care proceedings page for more information about urgent court orders that children’s services can seek, including emergency protection orders and interim care orders. Our Care proceedings page also provides more information about police protection.
5. How children’s services respond will depend on the precise situation. Whatever steps are taken, it will be important for any parent or carer to seek urgent legal advice:
6. And it is important to remember that children’s services:
For more information about voluntary arrangements, including more about who can agree to them and who can object, see our Children in the care system under voluntary arrangements (section 20) page.
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