Referral to social services
Referrals to social services can happen in a number of ways. You can request help yourself by calling your local social services - you can find your local social services here. Referrals can be made by other professionals who are working with your family or children, including schools, GPs, health visitors, and more. If there are concerns that a child is being abused or neglected, professionals, family members or anyone else who is concerned can approach social services, the police or contact the NSPCC directly for advice.
If adult or children’s social services are involved in your family and you are unsure what to expect, your local social services departments will have a number of leaflets and written factsheets that can help you understand the work they do and their procedures. Your local authority website will also give you more information about the sorts of difficulties they can help with and the services they provide. If you do require the leaflets and factsheets in other languages or braille, please do ask your local social services department about this.
Once an initial referral is made, depending on your local authority, either a neighbourhood-based social worker or a multi-agency assessment team member (sometimes referred to as a MASH team) will offer a further assessment, immediate assistance or an assessment team signpost to appropriate community-based support and services.
If the social services department of your local authority consider you or your child are in need of additional help or your child may have been abused or neglected, they have a duty to talk with you, your child, relevant professionals and sometimes close relatives who know your child well. This is to assess what actions should be taken to improve things for the family and protect your child from harm. There are many ways in which social services and their partner agencies can help you and your children so it is important to try and work alongside them and cooperate as best you can.
If they have been in touch to let you know that they are conducting a ‘safeguarding’ or a ‘child protection’ inquiry (Section 47) it is important not to panic. It is natural to feel anxious and frightened in this situation but you should be informed by social services what the process involves and be given information about what you can do. Unless there are particular circumstances preventing them, they may call or write to you and let you know they are conducting an assessment of your child’s needs and if there are any risks to their health or development. They should give you an idea of how long this assessment is likely to take, and if they don’t, make sure you ask them. In most cases these assessments result in them providing support and other services, with your agreement, in the family home.