What is children's services?
Children’s services used to be called ‘social services’. Children’s services are responsible for supporting and protecting vulnerable children. This includes providing children and their families with extra help. Where children are thought to be at risk of harm, children’s services will take steps which aim to make sure they are kept safe.
How do children's services work and what services can they provide?
When children’s services become involved with your child and family, there are laws and guidance from government that explain what they should do.
However, children’s services are organised slightly differently in different parts of the country. This means the way they do things and the full range of services they provide can vary to some extent.
The triangle below explains ways that children’s services can become involved with children and families and the different kinds of services there are. You and your child may not experience every kind of involvement shown in the triangle.
The way in which children’s services are involved with your child may change over time and will depend on different things including:
- What kind of help you and your child need and whether this can be provided without social workers needing to be involved
- Whether children’s services are worried that your child may have suffered, or be at risk of suffering, significant harm
- The particular approach taken by children’s services in your local area to supporting children and families who are struggling
- Whether children’s services thinks your child’s situation is improving or getting worse.
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Universal Services
All children have access to a range of ‘universal’ services depending on how old they are, their stage of development and their individual needs.
Universal services are provided by a number of different agencies, including health and education. So health visitors, GPs and school nurses are all examples of universal services.
Remember to click on the other coloured boxes above for information about Early help, Child in need, Child Protection, Pre-proceedings and Court.
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Early Help
Early help means providing extra support as soon as a problem emerges. This can be provided at any time in your child’s life, whether your child is very young or a teenager.
The first step in getting early help is for an ‘early help assessment’ to be carried out to identify what support your child needs. Someone who is already working closely with your child (for example a teacher or health visitor) may suggest to you that an early help assessment is carried out.
Alternatively, if you feel that your child needs some help and support then you can ask someone who is working with your child for an early help assessment to be carried out.
After the assessment, someone called a ‘lead professional’ should be appointed to coordinate any support offered to your child by different professionals and agencies. Examples include help provided by speech therapy, counselling services, young carers’ groups, family support workers, health visitors.
You don’t have to agree to an early help assessment or to the help offered. Agreeing to an assessment and accepting support may be a good idea to make sure you/your child get the help you need as soon as possible. If you have any questions or worries about the early help assessment or services being offered, you should contact the lead professional and ask to talk things through.
If you decide not to take up the offer of help but the lead professional is worried your child is still having problems and your child/family need greater support, they may decide to make a referral to children’s services.
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Child in need
If your child is assessed as having more significant or complex needs, then your child may be classed as a ‘child in need’. A ‘child in need’ will receive extra help/services from children’s services, although what this is may vary.
If your child has a disability, then they will classed as a ‘child in need’.
Other children who may be classed as in need are those who may need services from children’s services in order to be healthy or to develop properly. Local children’s services departments will have their own measures for deciding exactly which children in their area are enough ‘in need’ to get services.
The aim is to keep the child safe, well cared for and, at home wherever this is in their best interests.
Children’s services must provide information about the help they can give. Examples of extra help that may be offered to the family of a ‘child in need’ include:
- Day care (for children under the age of 5)
- Parenting classes or courses
- A family support worker or other practical help at home
- Help with housing.
A plan to help a child in need can also include help that is provided by people working in health and education, such as a health visitor or a class teacher.
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Child protection
Children’s services must look into your child’s situation if they receive information that makes them suspect your child is at risk of ‘significant harm’. They have to do this by law.
Children’s services will normally want to see your child, unless there’s another way they can find the information they need – for example, by asking your child’s teacher.
If your child is thought to be at risk of significant harm then a meeting will take place between children’s services, other professionals, you and other key family members. This meeting is called an ‘initial child protection conference’.
If the conference thinks your child has been abused or injured or is at risk of harm, a child protection plan will be drawn up. This sets out what help will be provided to your child and to you and how progress will be monitored. For more information about this and about child protection conferences, see the Child protection page.
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Pre-proceedings
You may hear this kind of children’s services involvement being called ‘pre-proceedings’, a ‘pre-proceedings-meeting’ or sometimes ‘a PLO meeting’. PLO stands for Public Law Outline. This sets out the legal process children’s services must follow when considering starting care proceedings. We use the term ‘pre-proceedings’ and ‘pre-proceedings meeting’ on this webpage.
A pre-proceedings meeting is a last opportunity for you to discuss with children’s services what changes they say you need to make to be able to care safely for your child. These are the changes they think are needed so they don’t need to apply to the Family Court for a care order to remove your child. Open this infographic to see the six main aims of the pre-proceedings process.
You should be invited to this meeting in a ‘letter before proceedings’. This letter should tell you what children’s services are worried about and what changes they would like you to make. Click on this link to see all the things that should be included in a letter before proceedings.
It is very important that you:
- Go to the pre-proceedings meeting
- Ask a solicitor specialising in children’s law to go with you
- Talk to your solicitor before the meeting about what you will say to children’s services about changes you’re going to make to help keep your child safe
- Let the social worker know you will be going to the meeting.
It is also important to talk to your wider family and friends about what help and support they can give. How might they be able to help you make the changes needed? You should discuss whether any family members could care for your child in the short (or long) term if you were unable to. You can also ask your child’s social worker to arrange a family group conference (FGC).
If at any time before or during the pre-proceedings process children’s services decide it is not in your child's best interests to wait any longer for you to sort out your difficulties and your child should be removed from your care, they may apply to court for an order saying that your child should be removed against your wishes.
They should tell you this in a ‘letter of issue'. If you receive a letter of issue or if you are told by children's services they are planning to ask the court for an order to remove your child, you should immediately contact a solicitor that specialises in children's law.
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Court proceedings
If you haven’t been able to sort out the things that children’s services are worried about and there are still concerns about your child’s safety and well-being, children’s services may consider applying to court for a care order to remove your child from your care.
However, unless children’s services can show there is an urgent need to remove your child from their home, they have to show the court what work they have done to support you and your family to resolve their concerns before going to court.
For an explanation of the different court orders that children’s services can apply for, and information about what should happen before and during court proceedings, please go to the Care proceedings page.
Children's Services - Frequently Asked Questions