Introduction to...children's social care

Published October 2012. The policy context has changed since publication.

This Introduction to... briefing gives a brief overview of Children’s Social Care (CSC) and the relevant legislation and policy framework. It is aimed at people who have little or no experience in this area.

The briefing explains the role of CSC for those children in need of protection and for looked-after children. It also explores some ways of accessing support for families who do not meet the threshold for CSC.

CSC relies on excellent communication within the multi-agency network and with those families and children receiving services. Each area will have a different way of delivering services and interpreting thresholds so it is important that you get further information from the resources listed here and the local service that you work in.

In this resource

• The legal and policy contexts
• Ways of working
• Child protection procedures
• Looked-after children
• Further information