Child at immediate risk

If you believe that a child or young person is at immediate risk from harm contact the Police by telephone: 999

If you want to refer a child or young person to Children's social care in an emergency please contact the Family Front Door.

Contact Family Front Door

• please note that you will be required to follow up your verbal child protection referral in writing as per the West Midlands Safeguarding Children Procedures
• Levels of need guidance

If the concern is not immediate use our online form to raise the concern 

Refer to Children's Social Care

Before you complete the form do you have consent?

All professionals must get parental consent when referring to another organisation for assessment or services where the referral is not in relation to child protection. This consent must be sought for each referral to any organisation that a professional makes for a child or their family.

Professionals must be clear to parents and carers or those with parental responsibility and young people about which agencies they wish to refer the child or family to and which individuals within the family are the subjects of the referral  Their consent must be sought verbally or in writing and recorded.

When is consent not needed?

Consent should not be sought if doing so places a person at risk of significant harm or serious harm or would cause unjustified delay in making enquiries into significant harm or would prejudice the prevention, detection or prosecution of a serious crime, This would raise child protection concerns and should be referred immediately to Children's Social Care:

Contact Family Front Door

If you do not already have an account, you will be prompted to set up an account when completing your first referral. 

Refer to Children's Social Care

Service User Portal Guidance (PDF)

Are you worried about an adult who works with children?

All organisations providing services to children and young people must ensure that their staff and volunteers are safe to do so. Most adults who work with children and young people act professionally and aim to provide a safe environment for the children and young people in their care, however, it must be recognised that there are adults who will deliberately seek out, create or exploit opportunities to abuse children.

The allegations' process is managed by Worcestershire’s Local Authority Designated Officers (LADO) as part of the Safeguarding and Quality Assurance Service.

A LADO referral should be made when there is an allegation or evidence that any person who works with children (via their employment or voluntary activity) has met the below threshold:

• behaved in a way that has harmed a child or may have harmed a child
• possibly committed a criminal offence against or related to a child
• behaved in a way that indicates they may pose a risk to children
• behaved or may have behaved in a way that indicates they may not be suitable to work with children

If you are unsure about referring to the LADO please speak to your Designated Safeguarding Lead or manager in the first instance and read the leaflet for professionals to ensure threshold is met before you refer.

The Safeguarding Lead in your organisation will need to assess whether to contact the LADO prior to discussing the concern with the individual, this will be assessed on an individual basis and should not happen if this will increase the level of risk to a child/ren. If the assessment determines that the level of risk will not increase, then initial fact-finding enquiries can be completed prior to contacting the LADO as this will help you determine if the LADO threshold is met and whether a referral is necessary. Should you decide that the LADO threshold is not met then you will need to record the reasons for this for your own records.

The below leaflets will help you understand the LADO process and procedures, prepare for Position of Trust meetings, explain the processes to others.

Downloads

• Information regarding position of trust meetings (PDF)
• A guide for professionals and volunteers who work with children (PDF)
• Managing allegations guidance if you have allegations made against you (PDF)
• A guide for parents and carers (PDF)

Making a referral

All statutory partner agencies are required to report all allegations to the LADO within one working day. Referrals should be submitted through the portal if the threshold for LADO procedures has been met. Please see the guidance on how to register and make a referral.

Referral Portal Guide (PDF)

Make a referral to LADO

Who can I contact if I have a concern?

If you are unsure about referring to the LADO please speak to your Designated Safeguarding Lead or manager in the first instance and read the leaflet for professionals to ensure threshold is met.

If you still require some guidance please submit the online referral then you can contact the duty LADO on: 01905 846221. We first need the referral to be submitted via the online form in order for any advice from the LADO to be recorded.

Management of allegations training and briefing

Management of Allegations Training is available through Worcestershire Children Safeguarding Partnership, this course will provide information which will help you to better understand the Management of Allegations processes, the role of the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO), and the role of the multi-agency network.

It will help give you details on the legislation, procedures and processes; ensure you know what to do if there is an allegation against a professional; and better understand your role as professionals working in regulated activity.

Book your place