Do Social Services Try to Keep Families Together?

By Hannah OvertonPublished 9 November 2026Last reviewed 9 November 202617 mins read9 sections

Part of: Section 20 and Voluntary Accommodation: What Social Services Can and Cannot Do

Do social services try to keep families together? Yes, the law gives councils a duty to support children in need to grow up with their families, but that duty has a limit. It applies only so far as it is consistent with the child’s safety and welfare, so nobody can honestly promise that a family will stay together.

How far social services must try to keep families together depends on your family’s stage. Each stage gives the council different duties, and gives you different things to ask for. If a child is in immediate danger, call 999.

Some parents read that duty as a guarantee and wait. Support and legal planning can run side by side, and statutory guidance says that child protection concerns may lead to pre-proceedings if the likelihood of significant harm does not reduce. A parent who leaves getting advice until a court date can lose time in the stage that may still avoid court.

Do social services try to keep families together?

Yes. Councils must promote a child in need’s upbringing by their family, so far as that is consistent with the child’s welfare, and must also make enquiries where a child may be at risk of significant harm.

Under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, the general duty has two parts. The first is to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in need. The second, “so far as is consistent with that duty”, is “to promote the upbringing of such children by their families”. For this purpose, family includes anyone with parental responsibility and anyone the child has been living with.

Two more duties point the same way. Schedule 2 requires “reasonable steps” to reduce the need for care proceedings (paragraph 7). It also requires reasonably practicable steps to help a child in need who lives apart from their family, and is not looked after by the council, to live with them, or to promote contact, if the council thinks that is necessary for the child’s welfare (paragraph 10).

Where does the duty to keep families together stop?

Social services try to keep families together only within clear limits:

• A council must make enquiries under section 47 if it has reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm.
• A court can make a care or supervision order only if it is satisfied of the section 31(2) test. The child must be suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm, because of the care given or likely to be given, or because the child is beyond parental control.
• Under section 1, the child’s welfare is the court’s “paramount consideration”. The court makes an order only if that would be better for the child than no order.

What must social services do before going to court?

In England, a council that is planning care proceedings should normally send a letter before proceedings and invite you to a meeting. It must also offer a family group decision-making meeting, unless it considers that would not be in the child’s best interests.

The statutory guidance on court orders and pre-proceedings calls the letter “the formal written notification that proceedings are likely”. It should set out:

• the council’s concerns, in simple language;
• the support already provided;
• what parents need to do, and what support they will get to avoid proceedings, with timescales;
• how to get legal advice and advocacy.

At the meeting that follows, the council should agree a revised plan and confirm it in writing. The plan should show the steps it will take to support you and the time allowed for progress. The guidance also recommends reviewing that plan within six weeks.

Is there a new duty to involve the wider family?

The family group duty is recent and applies to councils in England. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 added section 31ZA to the Children Act 1989, and it came into force on 15 July 2026. The offer must be in the letter before proceedings. If at least one person accepts, the council must arrange the meeting before it applies to court.

None of this holds back urgent action. The duty to offer a meeting does not apply where the council considers that offering or holding one would not be in the child’s best interests. The guidance excepts cases where the level of risk requires an immediate application, and Practice Direction 12A says that a child’s safety and welfare “should never be put in jeopardy by delaying issuing proceedings”.

What can the council do at each stage?

How do social services help families, and what can you ask for?

You can ask the council to assess your child’s needs and ask what support social services can offer to help keep families together. What is on offer varies by area, because the Act leaves councils to decide much of what is appropriate.

For children in need living at home, paragraph 8 of Schedule 2 lists practical support the council should consider making available:

• advice, guidance and counselling;
• occupational, social, cultural or recreational activities;
• home help;
• help with travel to use a service;
• help for the child and family to have a holiday.

Schedule 2 also covers family centres (paragraph 9) and breaks for people caring for disabled children (paragraph 6). Section 17 also lets a council attach conditions about repaying help given in kind or in cash, so ask about repayment before you accept.

If your family is at an earlier stage, our guide to early help explains how it works. Working Together 2026 says an assessment to decide next steps should take no longer than 45 working days from the point of referral.

Family members can help. Our guide to a family group conference explains how one of these meetings works and how to prepare.

When will social services try to remove a child?

Social workers need a legal route to remove a child: a court order, police protection in an emergency, or accommodation with parental agreement. The urgent routes are for serious risk, and statutory guidance says police powers should be used only in exceptional circumstances.

• Emergency protection order. Under section 44, a court can make one if there is reasonable cause to believe the child is likely to suffer significant harm without being moved or kept where they are. A council can also apply if someone unreasonably refuses access to the child during section 47 enquiries and it urgently needs that access.
• Police protection. Under section 46, a constable may remove a child where there is reasonable cause to believe the child would otherwise be likely to suffer significant harm.
• Interim care order. Under section 38, the court needs reasonable grounds for believing that the section 31(2) circumstances apply. If there is reasonable cause to believe that removing one person from the home would mean the child is no longer likely to suffer significant harm, and another person living there can care for the child and consents, the court can add a requirement to the interim care order that the first person leaves (section 38A).

Can social services take a child without a court order?

Only in an emergency through the police, or with agreement under section 20, which needs no court order. A person with parental responsibility who is willing and able to provide or arrange accommodation can object. Anyone with parental responsibility can remove the child at any time, unless, for example, a person named in a child arrangements order as someone the child is to live with agrees. Our section 20 guide explains what to check before you agree.

Our step-by-step guide to a social services investigation walks through each stage and when removal is lawful. Planning for a new baby raises its own questions, which our guide to a baby removed at birth covers.

Must social services look at the wider family first?

Yes. Even once a child is looked after, social services must first try to keep families together: the council must try to arrange for the child to live with a parent or someone with parental responsibility. If that is not consistent with the child’s welfare or not reasonably practicable, it must give preference to a suitable relative, friend or connected person who is also a local authority foster parent.

That order comes from section 22C. Different rules apply where the council is considering adoption. The statutory guidance also says councils should identify and involve wider family members “as early as possible”. So give the social worker names early, rather than waiting until you are asked. Our guide to kinship care explains what family members can expect, including longer-term routes such as a special guardianship order or child arrangements order.

What about family contact once a child is in care?

The council must allow reasonable contact with parents of a child in care under section 34, and the court can make orders about contact. However, the council can refuse contact urgently for up to seven days if that is necessary for the child’s welfare. For any looked after child, paragraph 15 of Schedule 2 requires the council to try to promote contact with parents and relatives, unless that is not reasonably practicable or consistent with the child’s welfare.

Do social services try to keep families together at your stage?

Your stage decides what the council should be doing now. Answer three questions to see where you stand and what to do next.

What can a parent do to show the child can stay safe?

Work with the plan, ask exactly what must change, and keep a clear record of what you have done. These steps cannot guarantee a result, but they give social services and any court better evidence on whether keeping the family together is safe.

1. Ask what the worry is. A letter before proceedings should state it in simple language, and earlier on you can ask the social worker to put it in writing.
2. Take part. Attend meetings and assessments, and tell the social worker early if a date will not work.
3. Do what the plan asks, then keep dated notes of each appointment, course or change.
4. Be open about setbacks. If domestic abuse, mental health, drugs or alcohol are part of the picture, say so and ask what additional support is available.
5. Name family and friends who could offer practical support, or care for the child if that is ever needed.
6. Ask questions when you disagree. Keep working with the plan while you raise it, and get legal advice early.

Hiding concerns, or refusing a social worker access to your child, can make things harder. Family Help depends on consent, but a council’s section 47 duty does not. Under section 44, a court can make an emergency protection order where someone unreasonably refuses access during enquiries and the council urgently needs it. None of this should stop you asking for help.

Frequently asked questions

Do social services want to remove my child?

Not necessarily. Enquiries exist to establish whether the council should take action. Section 47 directs them to that question, so the start of enquiries is not itself a decision to remove your child. However, nobody can promise the result, because the child’s safety and welfare decide it.

Does a child protection plan mean my child will be removed?

Not by itself. One aim of a plan is to support the parents and family network to keep the child safe. Working Together 2026 says a child should no longer be on a plan once practitioners judge that the child is no longer suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm. If that risk does not reduce, it may lead to pre-proceedings.

Do social services keep siblings together?

Where the council is providing accommodation for both children, section 22C(8) requires a placement that enables them to live together, so far as reasonably practicable in all the circumstances. Different rules apply where the council is considering adoption.

Why would a social worker be involved with a family?

A social worker may become involved because someone has raised a concern about a child, or because a family has asked for help. Our guide to a social services investigation explains how those concerns are handled. If your family asked for help, our early help guide explains that route.

Do social services try to keep families together after a care order?

Yes, within limits. While a council looks after a child, section 22C still requires it to arrange for the child to live with a parent, unless that would not be consistent with the child’s welfare or would not be reasonably practicable.

Can social services stop parents from being together?

This is a separate question from keeping a child at home, and it can arise where a partner is part of the worry. Our guide on whether social services can end your relationship covers it.

Is family support social services?

It can be. Working Together 2026 describes Family Help as covering non-statutory and statutory support, so councils provide some of it under section 17 and some outside it. Ask who is providing yours, and which stage you are at.

“When parents hear the words social services, removal is often their first fear. Ask the social worker exactly what is worrying them and what would need to change, then write it down. Tell them who in your family could help, and do it early. Taking part in the plan will not guarantee anything, but it shows what is happening for your child, day to day.”

Hannah Overton, Complex Children Specialist, Kabir Family Law

What should you do if removal or court has been mentioned?

Find out which stage you are at, read any letter carefully and get advice before the next meeting. Early advice can help you respond while support is still on the table, with your child’s safety first.