Concerned about a child?

Professionals - complete our SPA referral form

You can tell us about a child, young person or parent/carer that needs support in some way by completing our online child safeguarding referral form (provided by the London Borough of Richmond as part of our joint services provided by Achieving for Children) or contacting Single Point of Access Team (SPA). The SPA and its referral form is covered by the Achieving for Children privacy notice.

You may be concerned about the child's developmental needs, issues that the parent/carer is experiencing, or you may suspect a child is being neglected or subjected to physical, sexual, or emotional abuse. 

You can also call us for initial advice and guidance. In some cases, it's important to contact us before completing the form so we can respond to the child’s needs quickly, especially if you're concerned that the child is at risk.

• call us between 8:00am-5:15pm Monday to Thursday and Friday between 8:00am - 5:00pm 020 8547 5008
• or call the out of hours duty team (evenings and weekends

Whether calling us or completing the form - you will be asked for your name, address, details of the child and the concerns you have. These are to help us make further enquiries and to contact you again if necessary. On the form - please include as much information as possible, this helps us make an informed decision and speeds up our response to the needs you've identified.  

What the single point of access team do

• A qualified professional will review the information and make a decision within 24 hours about the next appropriate steps
• Concerns relating to the welfare of a child will be assessed by a qualified social care manager
• Health concerns will be triaged by a qualified mental health clinician and/ or signposted to the most appropriate healthcare service to clinically assess
• we will contact you 72 hours after you initially made contact in order to provide feedback on your referral

In an emergency

If you think a child is in immediate danger you should call 999.

If you need to speak to someone urgently outside of office hours, please call the Duty Social Worker on 020 8770 5000.