Contact with Family and Friends

While you are being “looked after” by Children, Schools and Families you should still be able to telephone, text, email, write to and see your friends and family, unless there are really good reasons for this not to happen.

If you are on a Care Order, the court may have decided that there are some people that you should not have contact with to keep you safe.

Sometimes it is decided that you can see someone only in a certain place with another person there, for example, at a Family Centre with a worker in the same room.  Sometimes it may be that you can only write to them.

If you are unsure about why these decisions are made, ask your social worker.  Decisions about who you can contact, and how and when you can contact them should also be recorded on your care plan and discussed at your “review”.

If you are in care then Children, Schools and Families must make plans for you to have a reasonable amount of contact with your family. Obviously you need to make arrangements with the people caring for you to get taken to visit people, use the phone or use a computer or to have them come to visit you.  You may not always be able to get to see them exactly when you want.

You cannot be stopped from contacting your family as punishment.  If this happens, or if you are unhappy about how much contact you are having with your family, you must talk to your social worker or you could complain (see Section on “Complaints”).