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)

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.

LADO procedures should be applied when there is an allegation that any person who works with children, in connection with 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

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. 

Worcestershire Children First Referral Portal Guide (PDF)

All statutory partner agencies are required to report all allegations to the LADO within one working day.

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 you can contact the duty LADO on 01905 846221 once you have submitted the online referral, 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

About the Service

Anchor is a team of multi-agency professionals who specialise in helping Looked After Children, who need support with their physical health, emotional well-being and mental health.

Looked after children have often experienced adverse childhood experiences (including abuse, neglect and inconsistent parenting), and separations from their care givers. As a result they may develop attachment difficulties which makes trusting others difficult and frightening, and can impact not only on relationships with others, but on how they feel about themselves and experience the world. The traumatic experiences they have had can make it difficult to feel safe in their everyday lives, even when they are no longer in danger. Developmental trauma can also have a significant impact on brain development which can affect all aspects of social, emotional and cognitive development.

We often work with foster parents/kinship carers and the network to ensure that a child or young person’s current way of managing the world is understood in the context of their experiences. This enables adults supporting the child or young person to understand and meet their needs.

The team is made up of professionals from different backgrounds including, Clinical Psychologists, Named Nurse for Looked After Children, Specialist Nurses for Looked After Children, Senior Mental health Nurse, Social workers, Community and Leisure Engagement Worker and Green Fingers Mentors.

Our services

The team offer health assessments (for school aged Worcestershire Looked After Children), therapeutic/attachment focused parenting advice and direct work/therapy, where deemed appropriate, for Worcestershire Children First Looked After Children, Foster Carers and Kinship carers, who are living in the Worcestershire area.

The Green Fingers Project is part of the Anchor service and works with Worcestershire Looked After Children and Adopted children and those living with SGO carers to support and improve their health and wellbeing through the provision of alternative curriculum and therapeutic activities. Green Fingers Privacy Notice.

If you are a Health professional who is working with or undertaken a Health Assessment with a Worcestershire Looked After Child you can make a referral to Anchor here.

Start Anchor Referral

If you are a young person or carer who looks after a young person, who has had support from Anchor, your feedback is important to us. Please click below to complete our Feedback form.

Anchor feedback form