All children in Wales have rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
This includes the right to education, the right to the best possible health care, and the right to be safe.
If you need help accessing your rights, contact us:
Our opening hours are 9am-5pm Monday to Friday, except bank holidays.
All telephone calls to and from the Advice and Assistance service are recorded for training and monitoring processes for complaint resolution.
The office of the Children’s Commissioner for Wales is here to promote and protect the rights and welfare of all children who usually live in Wales.
The Children’s Rights Advice and Assistance Team offer a free and confidential helpline which is there to advise and assist children and young people or those who care for them if they feel that a child has been treated unfairly.
We can help children and young people up to the age of 18 (or up to 25 in certain circumstances*) who may need advice or assistance to access any of their children’s human rights. We can also provide advice and assistance to adults who work with or care for children in Wales.
We make sure we keep the information you share with us confidential, unless we think what we are being told suggests that a child or young person is at risk of harm– we then share the information with other organisations that can help protect the child.
*The law that set up our office states that we can provide advice to a child or young person up to the age of 18, or 21 if they are care-experienced, or up to 25 if they are care-experienced and are still in education.
Areas we can help with
We always aim to give you advice or support directly, or to point you in the right direction. While we try to help with any issue affecting children and young people, our particular areas of expertise are:
- Educational entitlements
- Social services
- Health access
- Complaints
Our friendly Advice Team will listen to you to understand your situation before offering you advice or assistance. If we can’t help you, we will try to find someone who can. However if you contact us, we aim get back to you within 3 working days of your initial contact.
BSL
If your preferred language is BSL and you would like to get in touch. Please email us and we will arrange an interpreter so that we can talk to you about your issue.
Whistleblowing
Whistleblowing is the term used when a worker passes on information concerning wrongdoing. The wrongdoing will typically (although not necessarily) be something they have witnessed at work.
To be covered by whistleblowing law, the disclosure must be a ‘qualifying disclosure’. This is any disclosure of information which, in the reasonable belief of the worker making the disclosure, is made in the public interest.
If you are concerned about suspected wrongdoing, danger or risk in your workplace (or your previous workplace) which affect the rights and interest of the children in Wales, you can make a disclosure to us. You do not have to tell your employer before contacting us.
The Prescribed Persons Order 2014 sets out a list of over 60 organisations and individuals that a worker may approach outside their workplace to report suspected or known wrongdoing. The Children’s Commissioner for Wales is one of those organisations listed.
Advice and Assistance Leaflet
If you work with children, parents, or adults who support children, please let them know about our service by sharing this web page or our advice and assistance leaflet. A HTML version of our leaflet is available on this page.
Advice and Assistance Leaflet (Opens as a PDF in a new window)
Other information
Visit our ‘How we handle your personal information’ page
Read a step-by-step guide to how our service works
Rydym yn croesawu derbyn gohebiaeth a galwadau yn Gymraeg. Byddwn yn ateb gohebiaeth a galwadau a dderbynnir yn Gymraeg yn Gymraeg ac ni fydd cysylltu yn Gymraeg yn arwain at oedi .
We welcome receiving correspondence and calls in Welsh. We will respond to correspondence and calls in Welsh, and contacting us in Welsh will not lead to delay.