Reporting a concern for practitioners

If you are a Practitioner who works with children, young people and families (paid or un-paid) and are concerned about a child: 

  • Discuss your concerns in the first instance with your Safeguarding Lead or line manager if you are unsure if they are suffering significant harm
  • Inform the parents and / or gain their consent for you to make this contact unless doing so would put the child at risk.

Gather the following initial information prior to making your call:

  • All the details known to you/your agency about the child
  • The family composition including siblings, and where possible extended family members and anyone important in the child’s life
  • The nature of the concern and how immediate it is
  • Details of any work/support that you have provided to the child or family to date.
  • Details of where the child is
  • Whether you have informed parents/carers of your concern. Please be aware that consent from the parent/carer will be required to make a referral unless this places the child at any further risk.

Duty and Advice contact numbers are:

  • During office hours (9.00am – 5.00pm) call the Duty & Advice Team on 0113 376 0336 (option 2)
  • Out of office hours (evenings, weekends and bank holidays) call the Children’s Emergency Duty Team (EDT) on 0113 5350600.
  • If you think a child is immediate danger call the police on 999 out of office hours (evenings, weekends and bank holidays).

If the child or young person is not at risk of being significantly harmed practitioners should consider an Early Help response.

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