Over the phone
Step 1
When you phone us, a member of our admin team will take some information from you.
They’ll ask for:
- Your name, contact details, and details of the child or young person you are contacting us about ((if you’re calling about a child or young person)
- Some details about the issue you want to discuss
Everything you tell us will be treated confidentially.
Step 2
They’ll pass this information on to the duty officer (the person from our advice team receiving phone calls on that particular day).
If for any reason the duty officer can’t take your call at the time you phone us, they will attempt to return your call later that day or at least the following day.
If you leave a voicemail message outside normal working hours we will attempt to contact you during the next working day.
Please note that we will not leave phone messages to say we’ve phoned you, to protect your confidentiality.
Please note that if your query does not relate to an individual child or young person we will respond to your request in writing within 20 working days.
Other ways you can contact us
You can also write to us at:
Children’s Commissioner for Wales
Llewellyn House
Harbourside Business Park
Harbourside Road
Port Talbot
SA13 1SB
If we can help you with immediate advice
Step 3
Our team will give you advice or signpost/refer to a more appropriate organisation.
Step 4
We’ll ask you whether you’d like to receive the information we’ve given you in writing or not.
If we can help you but we need to stay in touch with you for longer
Step 3
We’ll discuss your issue with you and provide you with advice, guidance and/or support.
Step 4
We’ll stay in touch with you and keep helping you until your issue is resolved, or until there’s nothing else we can do to help, at which point we will close your case.
Step 5
We’ll send you a letter explaining that we’ve closed your case and outlining what advice, guidance or support we were able to offer you.
You can still contact us again in the future if you experience further problems.
Getting in touch with us through email or through our contact form
As with phone calls, our duty officer will attempt to get back to you on the same day if we receive your email between 9-5pm Mon-Fri.
Our contact form works in the same way.
What we can and can’t do
When you contact us, our team will consider whether we can help you or not.
We can only give advice about a child or young person who:
- is up to the age of 18, or 21 if they have been in care, or up to 25 if they have been in care and are still in education
- usually living in Wales, or who is placed in England by a Welsh local authority
- who has a complaint or wants to make representations to a public service in Wales
- who wants to make sure that the correct action is taken in response to whistleblowing
- who needs advice or support in relation to safeguarding or children’s rights
We cannot:
- enquire about any matter that is or has been the subject of legal proceedings
- act where CAFCASS (the Children and Family Advisory and Support Services) is able to act.
We make sure we keep the information you share with us private, unless we think a child or young person is unsafe – we then share the information with other organisations that can help protect the child.