Did you know that Social Services must listen to what YOU have to say before they decide how to look after you? This is just one of a number of rights you have when you are being looked after by a local authority.

The law has changed. This makes things a lot better for children and young people. This page tells you about your rights when you are being looked after by Social Services.

Each part is in a different colour to help you to find your way around.

We have tried to make this page as clear as we can. But the law can be difficult to understand. If there is anything that you are not sure about DO ASK a grown up you can trust, to explain it to you. There is a list of other people who can help click here to jump there.

Your wishes and feelings

Social Services must ask you how you feel about any plans they are making for you. They must listen to what you say. They have to take what you want into account when they are deciding what to do. But they may not always end up doing what you want. This is because at the end of the day social workers must do what they think is necessary to keep you safe from harm. As you get older and understand better what it will all mean, Social Services have to let you have more say in their plans for you if this is what you want. They may not agree with your plans if they think to do so would hurt you. If you don’t want to have any say in the plans you don’t have to. Your social worker must explain to you how their plans for you will work. He or she must tell you what else could be done instead.

Yours social worker must give you time to say what you want to say in your own way. He or she must listen carefully to what you have to say and talk to you about anything you want. Keep on asking if you don’t understand something.

Help

You may find it easier to say what you want if someone whom you trust and get on well with comes along to help you. Ask your social worker if you can bring someone along with you. You could take a member of your family, a teacher or a friend. There are also people called children’s advocates whose job it is to help young people. If you want to find out more, get in touch with one of them.

Other views

Social Services must listen to what your parents and other people close to you think should happen. Social Services must take into account your religion, racial origin, culture and language. This is very important if you are to live away from home.

Plans

Social Services must take plans about the care of all children they are looking after. They must try to do this before you are moved from home. But sometimes they will not be able to. Then they have to do it as soon afterwards as they can. The plan is not just at the beginning but throughout the time you are living away from home. It will cover things like seeing your family and friends, what needs to be done about your schooling and where you will be living. It is very important for you to be able to say what you want to happen. You should tell Social Services about anything that matters to you.

Reviews

Social Services must hold meetings to talk about how their plans for looking after you are working out. They have to think about whether these plans need to be changed. These meetings are called reviews. The first review must be held no later than four weeks after you first started to be looked after by Social Services. The second review must be three months after that. Then reviews will be every six months.

Social Services must ask you what you feel and think. The review gives you a chance to say how you want to be looked after. You do not have a right to go to your review meeting but Social Services will usually ask to come along. You can often stay there for all of the meeting if that is what you want.

Try to work out before hand what you want to say. You could ask someone to help you do this. You might want someone you like and trust to come to the review with you. That might make it easier for you to say what you want. Ask your social worker if you can do this.

Usually, social Services will ask your parents to come to the review meeting. If your parents being there would make you feel too frightened or upset to go, tell your social worker. The person in charge of the review may say your parent(s) cannot come to the meeting. He or she may let them come to only part of the meeting when you are not there. Your social worker may tell you it would be best for you to not go to the review. If this happens try and talk with your social worker about it. Ask the social worker why he or she has said this. Ask what other ways there are for you to say what you want. You might want to write it down or you could perhaps make a tape or video recording. If you are still unhappy with what your social worker says you can make a complaint.

Other people like your foster carers; teacher, doctor or school nurse may also be asked to attend the meeting. Social Services will invite them if they have something useful to say. Your social worker should always ask you whether you want them to come.

Social work files

You have the right to see what is written on your social work file since April 1 1989 if Social Services think that you will understand what is written there when you see it. They may also let you see what was written before then. They will not let you see what is written about other people, unless these people agree Social Services will not let you see anything, which they think, will put you in serious danger. You have the same rights if your file is held on computer.

If you want to see your file tell your social worker. Ask him or her how to do this. If you need to know more about this you should get in touch with one of the organisations listed on page 31.

You can ask Social Services to put right anything on your file you think that is wrong. If Social Services will not do this ask to put what you say on your file as well.

Health files

If you are 16, you have the right from1 November 1991 to see what has been written about you from that date in your health records. Health records are those kept by doctors, dentists, nurses, opticians, child psychologists and psychotherapists. If you are under 16 you may be allowed to see your file If the health authority thinks that you will understand what is written there when you see it. At any age you have a right to see health information held on computer so long as the health authority is satisfied that you understand what it all means.

Education files

At 16 you have the right to see what has been written about you in your education files since September 1 1990.

Provision of accommodation.

If you are being provided with accommodation Social Services, your parents and you should all agree about contact before you leave home.

If you cannot agree about contact you can go to court to ask for what you want. But first you have to ask the court to let you do this.

Independent visitors

Social Services may ask a person called an independent visitor to visit if they think this would be good for you. Social Services will dot his if they think this would be good for you. Social Services will do this if your parents have not visited you for a year or if they have not been in touch with you much. Being an independent visitor is not a paid job. An independent visitor does not work for Social Services.

An independent visitor will try to be like a friend to you and to help you. If you want your visitor could come with you to reviews or other meetings. Your visitor may also be able to talk to Social Services for you to make a complaint if you are unhappy about how you are being looked after.

You may want, as your visitor, someone who has been in care or perhaps someone of the same race or religious background as you. You may want to choose whether it will be a woman or a man. Social Services should always talk to you about what you want and listen to what you say. You can refuse to have an independent visitor if you understand what it all means. You can also ask for your independent visitor to stop visiting you.

When you are being looked after by Social Services there are rules about how you can be punished. If you are looked after in a children’s home the rules about punishment are written in the law. If you are looked after by foster carers they have to agree not to use physical punishment – that means things like hitting you or slapping you.

Children’s homes

Each children’s home has to have a written list of the kinds of punishment, which can be used, in the home. The list is written in what is called a statement. It says what the home sets out to do for children. Every home has to have a statement. You have a right to see it. If you want to see it ask a member of staff to show it to you. The statement has to say who in the home is allowed to say where and how they can be used.

You and the staff should be honest with one another and show respect for one another. The staff should always let you know what is expected of you.

Some kinds of punishment are not allowed in children’s homes. You should not be punished in any of the ways listed below:

§ Hit, slapped, pinched, squeezed, shaken, dealt with roughly or have things thrown at you. This also means not hitting you.
§ Stopped from having food and drink.
§ Stopped from seeing your parents, family or friends, stopped from getting or sending letters or from getting or making telephone calls.
§ Stopped from getting in touch with your social worker, guardian ad litem or solicitor.
§ Made to wear clothes that draw attention to yourself, things like punishment badges or pyjamas during the daytime.
§ Stopped from having your usual medicines or from going to the doctor or dentist when you need to.
§ Given any other form of medicines, such as drugs to keep you quiet, or given medical or dental treatment when you do not need it.
§ Deliberately stopped from going to sleep.
§ Made to pay a fine (unless it is a court fine) but up to two thirds of your pocket money could be kept from you.

Foster care

Social Services have to make sure that people are suitable to be foster carers. People can only be foster carers if they first agree with Social Services about how they will look after children who come to stay with them. They agree to help children to keep in touch with family and friends if this is right for the children. They also promise that they will not punish any children in their care in any of the following ways:

Hitting, slapping, pinching, squeezing, shaking, dealing roughly or throwing things at any children in their care.
Stopping children from having food and drink.
Stopping children from getting in touch with their parents, family and friends.

What you can do

If you are in a children’s home or foster care and are punished in any of the ways that are not allowed, tell your social worker. If you are not unhappy with what your social worker does about it you can complain (see page 24). You can also ask for help from a solicitor on the Law Society’s Children Panel. The Law Society’s Children Panel is made up of lawyers who are used to dealing with children’s cases. You can find out more about the Panel by asking one of the organisations on page 30. You can get legal aid on the green form. This means a solicitor would take your case and you would probably not have to may him.

Children under the age of 13 must never be locked up in secure children’s homes, or in a Youth Treatment Centre, unless special permission is first given by the Government. In all other cases, you must not be locked up unless Social Services think that:

§ You have a history of running away, that you are likely to run away again and that you are likely to be at risk of serious harm; or
§ If you are not locked up you are likely to harm yourself or other people.

If you are living in any of the places listed below –

§ A National Health Service or NHS trust hospital unit such as an adolescent unit.
§ A state boarding school.
§ A private boarding school (of over 50 boarders).
§ A residential care home, nursing home or mental nursing home.

You must not be locked up unless those looking after you think that:

§ You have a history of running away, that you are likely to run away again and that you are likely to be at risk of serious harm; or,
§ If you are not locked up you are likely to hurt yourself or other people.

You cannot be locked up anywhere for more than three days unless a court makes an order saying those looking after you can do so. At court you will have a solicitor to speak on your behalf (see The Children Act and the Courts – A Guide for Children and Young People).

Reviews

If you are in a secure unit in a children’s home your case will be looked into no later than one month after you were locked up. It will be looked at again every three months after that. One of the people looking into your case should be independent of Social Services. Checks will be made to find out whether you need to be locked up and whether any other place would be more suitable for you. Social Services should ask you what you would like to happen. They should tell you what has been decide about your being locked up.

Independent representatives

Some secure units have people called Independent Representatives who visit. These are not the same as Independent Visitors. They are there to make sure that you are being looked after as the law says you should. They will talk to you in private if you want and what you say will not be passed on to anyone else unless you agree. Ask your social worker or key worker whether there is an Independent Representative in your secure unit. Ask how to get in touch with him or her.

Usually the best place for children to live is with their families. If for a time children cannot live at home Social Services must do their best to help sort out any problems families are having. They are to do this so that, if possible, children can go back home again.

Provision of accommodation

If you are provided with accommodation your parents have the right to take you home at any time. Before Social Services started to look after you they should have talked with you and your parents about when you would go back home. You should all have talked about what would happen before you go home. Usually your parents will tell the social worker when they want to take you home. If you are 16 or over you can refuse to go home if you do not want to.

If you are under 16 and do not want to go home you should talk about this with your social worker. If your parents do not agree to your staying away, you may be able to ask the court to make an order saying that you can stay away. You should talk to a solicitor on the Law Society’s Children Panel.

If your parents try to take you home unexpectedly in a way, which puts you at risk of serious harm, your social worker should ask the court to make an Emergency Protection Order so that your parents cannot take you away.

In care

If you are in care, your parents cannot take you home unless Social Services agree. Social Services should talk to you first and find out what you feel about it. If Social Services do not agree you should go home the court will have to decide whether you should still be in care. If you want to you can ask the court to end the Care Order.

Getting you ready to leave care or accommodation

Social Services must help you to get ready for the time when you are no longer looked after by them. They have to do this whether you are going home or going to live on your own. They should do this well before you are due to leave care. They should help you to feel good about yourself, to make friends and to get on well with your family. They have to help you to learn to look after yourself – to shop for food, to cook, to wash and iron clothes, to sew and to manage money.

Publicity

Social Services must let people know what help they give to young people. They should also give you an easy to reads guide for young people before you leave care. If you move, tell Social Services your new address if you want them to carry on helping you.

Being hurt or harmed

If you are hurt or harmed by anyone who looks after you tell a grown up you can trust. This could be your social worker or your teacher or maybe your doctor. Or you could get in touch with one of the organisations on page 30 or go to the police. It may be very difficult to do this. But it is important that you should. It is important for your sake and for other children and young people who may be hurt or harmed by the same person. If you want help and support get in touch with one of the organisations listed on page 30 –1.

They will help you. They will listen to you. They will want to hear what you want to say and they will look into it. This is so that a plan can be made for keeping you safe in the future. If you want to find out more about this look at The Children Act and Getting Help from Social Services. You can get it from libraries, schools and Social Services. It explains what a child protection conference is. It tells you what happens at it and what your rights are.

What you say will be looked into very carefully. While this is happening, if you are with foster carers, you may be taken away from them. This could happen if the person you say abused you lives in their house and is not willing to leave. The person you say abused you may be a member of staff of the children’s home where you live. If this is the case he or she will often not be allowed to keep on working there while things are being looked into.

Medical treatment

At 16 you have the right to agree to or say no to all medical treatment. It is for you to decide. If you are under 16, you may also agree or say no if the doctor thinks you understand what having or not having the treatment will mean to you. If the doctor does not think you understand then it will be for your parents or Social Services to agree. If you want to know who is able to say yes or no to your having medical treatment, you should ask your social worker.
Religion, Names and living abroad

If you are in care Social Services must not:

§ Change the religion in which you have been brought up.
§ Change your surname unless your parents have agreed to this in writing or if the
court has said it is all right.
§ Let you be taken abroad for more than one month unless your parents agree or the court says you can.
§ Make you live outside England and Wales for good unless the court agreed to this.

If you want to know more about this you should ask your social worker or get in touch with one of the organisations on page 30-1.

What you can do

If you are not happy about the way Social Service have treated you, you should tell them how you feel and try and sort things out with them. Ask them why they did what they did. Ask if they could do something else instead.

You may find it hard to do this by yourself. Your family and friend may be able to help you, or you can try and find out if there are any children’s advocates in your area. A children’s advocate is someone who knows about children. It is their job to help children with their problems. Social Services should be able to tell you about them. A few Social Services Departments have people called Children’s Rights Officers. Their job is to sort out problems for children. Ask if your Social Services have a Children’s Rights Officer.

How to do it

All Social Services Departments must have a way to let children make a complaint if things go wrong. This is often called a representations or Complaints Procedure. All children have the right to use this. You are likely to need help to do this. Social Services should tell you who can help you. You could also ask for help from your parents, a children’s advocate or Children’s Rights Officer.

You can complain about:

§ The way in which you are or have been looked after by your foster carers or children’s home.
§ The decisions your social worker made about you.

Letting people know how to complain

Social Services must tell people in writing about their complaints procedure. They must say how it works, who can use it and when. You should be able to get leaflets about it in libraries and other places. The leaflets should be easy for children to understand. If you live in a children’s home you must be given a leaflet about how to complain. The leaflet must have on it a telephone number of someone you can get in touch with if you have problems. This person must have nothing to do with the home.

How it works

Social Services must look carefully into complaints. They must do this together with an independent person. This means someone who has nothing to do with Social Services or any other part of the local authority.

This is how it works

§ You tell Social Services you want to complain. You do not have to do it in writing. The Social Services will write down your complaint for you. They will then ask you if they have got it right what you said.
§ Social Services must look into your complaint with the independent person. Social Services staff and/or the independent person may want to ask you questions. This is so they can be clear what you are not happy about. Social Services have to let you know within four weeks what they are going to do about your complaint.
§ If you are not happy with what they decide to do tell social Services, in writing, within four weeks that you want your complaint to be heard by a panel. A panel is made up of three people. One of the people on the panel must be independent. That means they must have nothing to do with Social Services.
§ The panel must meet within four weeks to talk about your complaint. You can write down what you want to say and give it to the panel. You can also speak to them at the meeting. You have the right to have some else there to speak for you if you wish.

§ The panel must say what they think should happen within one day of the meeting and tell you.
§ Social Services must think hard about what the panel said should happen. Social Services have to think about what they should do about your complaint. But they do not have to do what you want or what the panel said.
§ Social Services should tell you what they have decided not later than four weeks after the panel meeting. They must also tell you why they decided what they did.

Further action

If you still feel unhappy about how you were treated you may be able to:

§ Go to court
§ Make a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman.

You should ask a solicitor on the Law Society Children Panel what you can do. Social Services should be able to give you the name of a solicitor or you could get in touch with us and we will try to help you or know someone who can. You could write to your Member of Parliament or local councillor. If you live in a children’s home you must be given a leaflet, which gives you the telephone number of someone you can get in touch with if you have problems. This person will not be to do with the home.

All children’s homes

All children’s homes should be visited once a month by someone from the organisation responsible for the home. But it cannot be someone who works there. This is so that someone from outside goes to see for themselves how things really are in the home. They then have to write a report about what they find. Nobody should know they are coming so that things cannot be covered up. The staff of the home should always let you talk in private with the visitor if you want to.

Voluntary and Private Children’s homes

Someone from Social Services must visit a child in a children’s home run by a voluntary organisation or a private children’s home within seven days if they have been told that that child may not be properly looked after or may not be being kept safe. If you are unhappy about how you are treated in a children’s home you should get in touch with Social Services.

During the visit you will usually be seen alone. Social Services must read all the home’s relevant records about you. Social Services can take you away from the children’s home if they do not think that you are being properly looked after. If they are not satisfied with how you are being looked after but think that you should stay there for the time being they must visit you within four weeks. Some schools, which have boarders who do not go home for holidays, are treated as children’s homes.

Private boarding schools

Social Services must try to make sure that children in those private boarding schools, which are not classified, as children’s homes are being properly looked after and kept safe. Social Services have to visit the school to see the children. They must look at the school records and the building. The children in these schools will not usually be being looked after by Social Services. Social Services should visit periodically. If there are worries about the school they should visit more often.

Boarding schools should have ways for you to complain if you are unhappy about how you are being looked after at school. You can get in touch with Social Services or one of the organisations listed on page 30 if you do not think the school has looked into your complaint properly and you are still unhappy.

Private boarding schools

The Department of Health in England and the Welsh Office in Wales can check up on any children’s home, foster home or private boarding school at any time. Someone from the Department can see the children. They can look at the way in which the home is being run. They can see how the children there are treated.

Legal advice

Citizen’s Advice Bureau

You can find out where your local one is by asking at your library or looking in Yellow pages.

Law society Children Panel

The Law Society, 113 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1PL (020 7242 1222)

Children’s Legal Centre

University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ. (Advice line 2pm – 5pm Mondays to Fridays on 01206 873820).

Other people who can help you

Childline

Freepost 111, London N1 0BR
(Free phone Help line 0800 1111)

NSPCC Child Protection Help Line

42 Curtain Road, London EC2A 2NH
(Free phone 0800 800500)

National Youth Advocacy Service

1 Downham Road South, Heswall, Wirral, Merseyside, L60 5RG
(0151 342 7852)

The Who Cares Trust

Kemp House, 152 –160 city Road, London, EC1V 2NP
(020 7251 3117)

Tros Gynnal

12 North Road, Cardiff, CF10 3DY
(029 20396974)

Voices From Care (Cymru)

25 Windsor Place, Cardiff, CF10 3BX
(029 20398241)

Ombudsman

For complaints about local authorities in:

The North of England and North Midlands

Contact the Local Government Ombudsman, Beverly House, 17 Shipton Road, York YO3 6FZ (01904 663200)

The rest of England

Contact the Local Government Ombudsman, 21 Queen Anne’s Gate, London SW1H 9BU (020 7915 3210)

Wales

Contact the Local Government Ombudsman, Derwen House, Court Road, Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan (01656661325)