If you are worried about the safety and wellbeing of a child right now, you should phone:
- 01344 352005 (8:30am to 5pm, Monday to Friday)
- 01344 351999 (5pm to 8:30am, Monday to Friday, 24 hours a day at weekends and bank holidays)
In an emergency, or if you believe a child is at immediate risk of harm call the police on 999.
Use this form to make a Safeguarding referral. Read the following criteria before making this type of referral.
Children with complex and multiple needs (Child in Need)
These children require specialist services to achieve or maintain a satisfactory level of health or development or to prevent significant impairment of their health and development and, or are disabled. They may require longer term help from specialist services or a brief period of intensive support when the young person or child becomes at risk of needing to be placed into the care of the council.
The parents or carers of some children with complex and multiple needs may have limited capacity to parent and, or fail to consider the risk of harm. In such circumstances an ‘Edge of Care’ provision may be co-ordinated by Children’s Social Care that can co-ordinate additional support to that provided by Early Help. This is the threshold for an assessment led by Children’s Social Care under Section 17, Children Act 1989, although the assessments and services will require a collaborative approach involving other partner agencies.
Children in acute need (Child Protection, Children Looked After)
These are children who are suffering or are likely to suffer significant harm. This is the threshold for ‘child protection’. These children are likely to have already experienced significant adversity that has impacted on their development or is considered likely to.
In many cases parenting capacity is likely to have been significantly impaired. Some children may benefit from specialised services to address their mental health needs and, or complex health problems.
They are children whose needs may require the protection of provisions set out in section 47 (the power to undertake child protection investigations), 20 (the accommodation of children), or 31 (the granting of a Care Order) of the Children Act 1989. This would also include those children remanded into custody and statutory youth offending service.