Child Protection

Main Details

Child protection services have a duty to protect children and young people from harm caused by neglect or abuse. We have a duty to investigate any allegations that a child might be being neglected or abused, and if necessary take appropriate action to protect the child.

Children's social care services work together with other agencies, such as police, schools and health services, to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

If anyone is concerned about a child's safety they should contact the police or local children's social care service.

When someone contacts us about concerns about the welfare of a child our staff will ask for as much detail as possible and discuss the situation. This information will be combined with any other details we may already have about a child to enable our experienced staff to decide whether and how quickly action needs to be taken.

There are a number of possible actions we may take following receiving concerns about a child's welfare :

• Initially we may need to gather as much information as possibly by contacting other services to find out what details they may have about a child.
• We may decide no further action is required.
• We may offer the family help or advice to resolve any difficulties through family support services
• We may arrange a meeting to consider the risks and decide what further action should be taken to protect the child - an initial child protection conference

If someone contacts us about concerns about a child it may not be possible to let them know the outcome because of confidentiality reasons.