Sources

The small numbers in the text point to these sources. Information and links checked November 2026.

1. Department for Education, Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026, Chapter 1, paragraphs 16, 19 and 28 (working with parents and carers, including fathers and male carers), and Chapter 3, paragraphs 136 to 146 (Family HelpFamily Help. The coordinated approach described in Working Together 2026, bringing targeted early help and section 17 support into a more seamless offer through a family help plan and named lead practitioner. Local arrangements… and assessment), and the summary of changes (March 2026).
2. Equality Act 2010: section 11 (sex as a protected characteristic), section 13 (direct discrimination), sections 20 and 29 (services and reasonable adjustments) and section 149 (public sector equality duty).
3. UK GDPR, Article 15; Information Commissioner's Office, A guide to subject access: how to recognise a request and how long there is to respond.
4. Information Commissioner's Office, A guide to subject access: requests for information about children.
5. Children Act 1989, section 20; Department for Education, Children Act 1989 guidance and regulations, Volume 2: care planning, placement and case review.
6. Children Act 1989, section 20Section 20. Local-authority accommodation of a child without a care order. The child becomes looked after, but the local authority does not gain parental responsibility. Agreement must be informed and genuinely voluntary. Rights…(7) and (8); Volume 2 care planning guidance.
7. Department for Education, Children Act 1989 guidance and regulations, Volume 1: court orders, Annex 1; Public Law OutlinePLO / Public Law Outline / pre-proceedings. Formal process when the local authority is considering an application for a care or supervision order. pre-proceedings guidance; Public Law Working Group, Recommendations to achieve best practice in the child protection and family justice systems (March 2021).
8. Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026, Chapter 3; Children Act 1989, section 32, for the 26-week timetable.
9. Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026, Chapter 3: child protection conferences and core groups.
10. Children Act 1989, sections 2, 3, 4 and 12; GOV.UK, Parental rights and responsibilities.
11. Department for Education, Getting the Best from Complaints (2006); Children Act 1989 Representations Procedure (England) Regulations 2006; Local Government and Social Care OmbudsmanLocal Government and Social Care Ombudsman. An independent body that can consider complaints about local authority services. It usually expects the relevant local authority complaints procedure to be completed first, although it may accept a complaint early in…, the children's statutory complaints procedure.
12. HM Courts and Tribunals Service, Sharing information outside of court in family proceedings (April 2025); Transparency and reporting in the family courts (August 2025).
13. Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026, Chapter 3: referrals, assessment and the 45-working-day timescale.
14. Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 (Royal Assent 29 April 2026): family group decision-makingFamily group conference / family group decision-making. A voluntary, family-led way to bring relatives and other trusted people together to make a plan for a child alongside skilled practitioners. A Family Group Conference is one model of family group decision-making. and multi-agency child protection teams; Department for Education, policy summary notes.
15. Department for Education, Families First Partnership programme guide: year 2, 2026 to 2027, including Family Help plans, family group decision-making, multi-agency child protection teams and engaging fathers and male carers; Lead Child Protection Practitioner Standards (June 2026).
16. Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, Children's care services.
17. Children Act 1989, section 17 (children in need and their families) section 22 (wishes and feelings of parents of looked after children), section 34 (contact with children in care) and Schedule 2, paragraph 15 (promoting contact).
18. Human Rights Act 1998, section 6 and Schedule 1: Article 6 (fair hearing) and Article 8 (respect for family life).
19. Family Procedure Rules 2010, rule 12.3 and Practice Direction 12A.
20. Department for Education, Understanding and dealing with issues relating to parental responsibility (updated August 2023).
21. Family Justice Council, Covert recordings in family law proceedings concerning children (15 May 2025).
22. Social Work England, Professional standards, standards 2.1, 2.4, 3.5 and 3.11.
23. UK GDPR, Article 5(1)(d) (accuracy), Article 12 (time limits and reasons for refusal) and Article 16 (right to rectification); Information Commissioner's Office, Right to rectification.
24. Children Act 1989, section 47 (the duty to investigate where there is reasonable cause to suspect significant harm); Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026, Chapter 3: child protection enquiries.
25. Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026, glossary: the four categories of abuse and neglect (physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and neglect), and domestic abuse as a safeguarding concern.

Also used for checking

• Children Act 1989 (including sections 20, 21, 31, 38, 44, 45 and 46); Children and Families Act 2014.
• Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984; Policing and Crime Act 2017; Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.
• Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, Part 1, Schedule 1.
• Domestic Abuse Act 2021; Home Office, Domestic Abuse Statutory Guidance.
• Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care, SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years.
• Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, The Myth of Invisible Men (September 2021).