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Keeping children safe

Make a request for support or report a child safety concern

If you are worried about the safety or wellbeing of a child or young person in Devon, please use our online referral form. This form will go through to our safeguarding mailbox and be triaged by a Team Manager within our Front Door.

However, if you deem the child to be at risk of significant harm you have an option to contact our Front Door directly on 0345 155 1071. Our lines are open Monday-Thursday 9am-5pm and Friday 9am-4pm. You will still be required to complete an online form within our timescales.

If you need help outside of these hours or at weekends or bank holidays, please call our Emergency Duty Service on 0345 6000 388.

If a child is at immediate risk contact the police on 999.

Devon Children’s Front Door

The Devon Front Door incorporates our Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH), which is Children’s Services first point of contact and the start of the child and family’s social care journey. The Front Door receives all the requests for early help and safeguarding from people who are worried and concerned for children. These requests can come from professionals, such as the Police, Education and Health, but also members of the public, family members and young people themselves.

Our job at the Front Door is to identify, assess and make safe at the earliest opportunity all vulnerable children and families in our communities. We do this through the sharing of information and intelligence across the safeguarding partnership, such as health, education, Police, and probation, to name but a few. This supports us to make an informed decisions about how best to progress and support our vulnerable children and families.

The MASH 4 key principles

  • Children are best brought up in families, with local support when needed.
  • We support families to find their own solutions, building on strengths and finding solutions to whatever difficulties they are confronting to be resilient, improve family life and increase opportunities for their children.
  • Children who need protection will receive it; wherever possible, early help will prevent the need for statutory intervention in family life.
  • Timely permanent arrangements will be secured for children who can’t be brought up in their birth family.

How do we assess the level of need?

The Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership (Devon SCP) has adopted a multi-agency model to help professionals assess safeguarding needs for children and young people.

The Devon SCP has adopted the Levels of Need, which is a continuum of need model to provide a multi-agency, whole system approach to assessment, prevention and intervention for children, young people and their families and directly support the early help framework and process.

Within MASH there is an Early Help team that respond to requests for Early Help support by contacting the family and professionals, assessing Level of Need and taking action to progress the support needs identified.

The aim of early help is to build on people’s strengths and resources to manage their own challenges and resolve their own difficulties and prevent further problems in the future.

Early help is not a designated team, it is the way that everyone works together to support the needs of families.

Can we talk

If you are worried about the safety of a child in Devon and want to speak to someone, or if you are a child worried about your own safety, please contact our team on 0345 155 1071.

If you are a professional, you can call the consultation line for a case discussion prior to making a request for safeguarding or support


Confidentiality is very important and each agency ensures that the information shared is relevant and proportionate, it is always important that the consent of the parent is given to any enquiry to enable information sharing within the MASH, an exception to this would be should seeking that consent place a child or others at increased risk. Read more in the MASH privacy notice.

 

If you are concerned that a child is being abused, or to request support, you can:

Call 0345 155 1071

Complete the request for support online form

If it’s an emergency call 999


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