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Concerned about a child - How to report a concern

All professionals have a responsibility to report concerns for a child to Children's Initial Advice Team (CIAT) if you believe the child is suffering significant harm or is likely to do so. 

If you are concerned about a child, but are unclear if this is an immediate risk you must discuss with your manager or the designated person responsible for child protection within your organisation (refer to own agency safeguarding policy) for further guidance and support.  However if you are concerned about a child or believe a child is at immediate risk you should make contact with Children's Initial Advice Team.

Telephone 01325 406252

You must seek consent from families before ringing, unless doing so would place a child at risk of significant harm.

Children's Initial Advice Team (CIAT)

The Children's Initial Advice Team is based in Children's Services and is part of Darlington Borough Council's 'Front Door'.  The team is made up of social workers, a team manager along with two advanced practitioners.  The team are trained and skilled in analysing information to decide the best way forward to support the child and family.  

For calls raising concerns about a child the CIAT will ask the following:

  • all of 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
  • any and what kind of work/support you have provided to the child or family to date
  • where the child is now and whether you have informed parents/carers of your concern

Once all the information is gained from the call, the social worker in the CIAT will gather any further information deemed necessary for a recommendation to be made and the contact enquiry will be completed.  The social worker will provide the professional with a summary of the discussion and outcome within 24 hours of the contact enquiry, this will be sent electronically via email to the referrer. 

The CIAT is open during the following hours:

  • Monday - Thursday: 8:30 am - 5:00 pm
  • Friday: 8:30 am - 4:30 pm

If you need to get in touch out of office hours, contact the Emergency Duty team by telephone: 01642 524552.

Remember that if you suspect a child or young person is at immediate risk of harm then phone the police on 999.

If you are a professional submitting any of the following types of contact, please email them to: childrensfrontdoor@darlington.gov.uk

  • Out of hours emergency services
  • early help requests/assessments
  • school attendance/legal work requests
  • Educational Health Care Plan requests
  • Occupational Therapy assessment requests
  • Max card requests
  • Other Local Authority placement notifications/Other Local Authority Child Protection plans residing in Darlington

Confidentiality

The safety and welfare of the child overrides all other considerations including the following:

  • Confidentiality
  • The gathering of evidence
  • Commitment or loyalty to relatives, friends or colleagues

For further information see DSP Information Sharing Protocol [pdf document]

The overriding consideration must be the protection of the child - for this reason, absolute confidentiality cannot and should not be promised to anyone.

If suspicions or allegations are about relatives, friends or colleagues, professional or otherwise, the concerns must not be discussed with them before making the referral.

Individual members of the public who make a referral may prefer not to give their name or alternatively they may disclose their identity, but not wish for it to be revealed to the parents/carers of the child concerned.

Wherever possible, when the CIAT receives referrals from members of the public, they should respect the referrer’s request for anonymity. However, referrers should not be given any guarantees of confidentiality, as there are certain limited circumstances in which the identity of a referrer may have to be given e.g. the Criminal or Family Court arena. The referrer’s request for anonymity must be recorded.

A professional/agency making a referral should not choose/expect anonymity, however, there may be exceptional circumstances which include:

  • Where disclosure to third parties could endanger the referrer, managers should assess risk and if necessary, agree anonymity at this juncture.
  • where a referral is the result of something they have seen, heard or been told in their private life, it is important they are able to remain anonymous in order to ensure the safety of themselves

If either of the above apply the referrer’s request for anonymity must be recorded.

Additional supporting information

If any allegation of abuse is made against a person who works with children and young people, including those who work is a voluntary capacity then you should follow the procedures as set out in Procedure for managing allegations and concerns against staff, carers or volunteers [pdf document].

You should also consider DSP Child Safeguarding Practice Review and Serious Incident Notification Procedures July 2023 [pdf document] if you believe or suspect there may have been circumstances where the threshold for holding a Child Safeguarding Practice Review (CSPR) is met.

Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 states, the criteria for a Child Safeguarding Practice Review (CSPR) is where abuse or neglect is known or suspected and either:

  • a child dies or 
  • a child is seriously harmed and there are concerns about how organisations or practitioners worked together to safeguard the child.