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Talk to us and we will listen

Open Monday-Friday
10am-5pm
Call us: 0800 023 2033
WhatsApp: 0786 003 4982

Care Advice Line opening hours (over the Festive Season)

Up to Friday 22 December: 10am – 5pm

25 – 26 December: closed

27 – 29 December: 10am – 5pm

1 January: closed

2 January onwards: 10am – 5pm

What is the Care Advice Line?

Our Care Advice Line is a friendly helpline for children in care and care leavers.

You can call or email us to get help, support, advice, guidance – or just to get in touch with someone to listen to you.

Our Care Advice team are here to help you with what you need and treat you in the way you deserve to be treated – with respect and understanding.

We will listen to you, and you will have control of what you want to talk about and how you want to talk about it.

How do I get in touch?

Or use the contact form below

"I feel like a weight has been lifted. That’s the first time I’ve said all that and it feels good."

Who will talk to? 

You will speak to our dedicated Care Advice team. They have extensive knowledge about the care system and help care-experienced young people who face difficult situations every single day. Our understanding team will listen without judgement, and help you with the issue you may be facing.

Meet the team

What can I talk about?

Our team is here to answer your questions and concerns about the care system and your rights as a care-experienced young person. 

We know that being in care can be confusing and you might be dealing with words, processes and systems that don’t quite make sense to you. We’re here to help.

It’s your life, and it’s your right to know exactly what’s going on in it.

Talk to us about things like:

  • Money worries
  • Your health and wellbeing
  • Your rights in care and leaving care
  • Housing issues
  • Getting the things you are entitled to
  • Your education and plans for the future
  • How the care system works
  • Contact with your siblings and family members
  • Finding national and local services that can help you

"Genuinely in the 10-minute call I had more help than in the last 18 months."

What happens when I call?

We know that picking up the phone can be a scary experience, especially when you need help.

Don’t worry, we are here for you, and we want to make it easier.

Let’s talk through what would happen if you called our Care Advice Line on 0800 023 2033 – a member of our welcoming team, pick up…

  1. One of our specialist Advice and Support Officers will introduce themselves – going on to ask a few questions about you. (This is so they can best understand how they can assist you).
  2. They will then ask you to explain what you need help with. You will have the space and time to explain your situation/story saying as much or as little as you would like.
  3. One of the team will then discuss how you would like to access help.
  4. They will then discuss how we can help you.

We always follow up on enquiries to our Care Advice Line to make sure you have got the help you need.

You can always choose to email us if you would prefer on [email protected] or fill in the form below.

FAQs

Calling our Care Advice Line is free.

It doesn’t cost you anything to ring our freephone number from a landline or a mobile.

Yes, of course we can. You can fill out the form on this page or send us your number by email and ask us to call you. If you call us but don’t get through, please leave a message and we will call you back within one working day.

Calls to the Care Advice Line are confidential, which means we will keep what you tell us private. The only time we would have to tell someone about your call is if we are worried that you or someone else is experiencing harm or at risk. If we have to tell someone about your call, we will do our best to discuss this with you before we do so and will work with you to make sure you feel safe.

If we can’t help with your enquiry, we will do all that we can to put you in touch with other sources of support.

If you are calling on behalf of a child or young person, then we are happy to take your call and offer whatever guidance or information we can – so please feel free to get in touch.

We’re working with Family Rights Group to help young parents and parents-to-be, who are care-experienced and involved with children’s services, to get the advice and support they need. Click here for more information.

The Family Rights Group is a specialist organisation which support families whose children are involved with, or require, local authority services. Their website (www.frg.org.uk) has lots of information and advice and they have a freephone helpline number, 0808 801 0366 (open Monday to Friday 9.30am-3.00pm).

Download our Care Advice Line flyer 

We're here for you. Download our flyer to save this info, and feel free to share with others.

This website was co-created by brilliant care-experienced young people.

Our Care Advice Line is kindly supported by the National Lottery Community Fund.