Welcome to the family page for Waltham Forest Local Safeguarding Children Board. Each Local Authority in England has an LSCB. Our role is to work across all the agencies providing services for children and young people, to coordinate the way services are provided to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people in the borough. We are also responsible for making sure that services are provided to agreed standards.

Here you will find useful information on how you can help to keep children safe. We are very interested in your views - if you have found the information here useful, or if you feel we have missed anything important, do let us know. We will be updating the information here on a regular basis, so please visit us again. You can find out how to contact us here. To view some of the documents on this page you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Parenting handbook

We have produced a useful reference guide for parents and carers that includes helpful information on many aspects of parenting and a short directory with links to national and local organisations that provide help and support.

Parenting handbook (2.81 MB PDF file)

Are you looking after someone else's child? Is someone else looking after your child?

Sometimes parents find it necessary to leave their children with friends or extended family for short periods of time. Where this is likely to be for more than 28 days, the child is under 16 (or under 18 if disabled) and staying with someone who is not a close relative, your local authority needs to know. This is a legal requirement and is designed to ensure that your chid is receiving the care and attention he or she needs.

Useful links

We are building a collection of links to web pages that families may find useful. Please be aware that these all link to external websites, so we cannot be responsible for the quality of the information on these.

General

  • NSPCC - advice for parents and carers

Accident prevention

Bullying

Childbirth and Infancy

Children's rights

Disabled children

  • Contact a family - UK-wide charity providing support, advice and information for families with disabled children
  • Whizz Kidz - organisation providing mobility solutions for disabled children

Domestic abuse and violence

Health

Keeping safe on the internet and mobile phones

Road safety

Sexual Aabuse

  • Keeping children safe from sex offenders - The Home Office, together with Barnardo's, NSPCC, The Lucy Faithfull Foundation and Stop it Now! UK & Ireland has produced this useful information booklet for parents and carers.

Young carers

Young people

  • Forest Flava - Waltham Forest's website especially for young people
  • Young Worker - information for young workers, work experience and starting work
  • Youth Access - links to information, advice, counselling and support services
  • There4Me.com - confidential online advice for teenagers, provided by the NSPCC

Local organisations

  • Arabic-speaking Women's Association 020 8491 5743
  • Ashiana Asian Women's Refuge 020 8539 9656 or 020 8539 0427
    Provides temporary, safe, supportive housing for south Asian, Turkish and Iranian women between the ages of 16-30 who are experiencing domestic violence. Asiana has a safe house for young women between the ages of 16-25 who are at risk of forced marriage, and provides an outreach service a programme of educational and advice work with young people of school age, in-house counselling service and a teen project for disadvantaged youth in the local community.
  • Bangladeshi Women's Society 020 8539 5523
  • Barnardos Hamara Family Project (disabled children and young people) 020 8503 7270
    Provides a range of non-residential services to disabled children and young people who live in Waltham Forest, which enhance their lives at home, promote their independence in the community and support their families in caring for them
  • Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service 020 8509 04245
  • Children's centres and Sure Start programmes
    Sure Start is a Government programme which aims to achieve better outcomes for children, parents and communities by increasing the availability of childcare for all children, improving health and emotional development for young children and·supporting parents as parents and in their aspirations towards employment.
    • Acacia Nursery, Leytonstone 020 8558 4444
    • Chapel End Early Years Centre, Walthamstow 020 8527 9192
    • The Lloyd Park Centre, Walthamstow 020 8531 9522
    • Cinch, Leytonstone 0208 496 2960
    • Higham Hill, Walthamstow 020 8531 4072
    • North Leyton 020 8558 8421
    • St James, Walthamstow 020 8496 1454
  • Family Information Service
  • Citizens Advice
    The Citizens Advice service helps people resolve their legal, money and other problems by providing free, independent and confidential advice, and by influencing policymakers
    • Leytonstone 020 8988 9620
    • Walthamstow 087 0123 4026
  • Education Welfare Service 020 8521 4311 ex 239
  • Family Welfare Association, Leyton 020 8539 0004
    Since 1869, FWA has provided support to some of the poorest families in the country. They provide grants as well as social work support to people of all ages, working with them to help them solve their own problems.
  • Forest YMCA of East London 020 8509 4600
    From providing housing, training and community health and fitness facilities to supporting young people and their families, YMCAs in over 250 communities in England encourage, support and challenge young people to become all that they can.
  • Kiran Asian Women's Aid 020 8521 5223
  • London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard 020 7837 7324
    Provides an information, support and referral service for lesbians, gay men and bisexual people from all backgrounds throughout the United Kingdom
  • Metropolitan Police 020 8556 8855
    Contact details and information about your local police service.
  • NE London Family Mediation Service 20 8514 7880
    An independent registered charity offering a professional counselling service with trained, supported and supervised counsellors across the boroughs of Havering, Barking & Dagenham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest
  • Parent Partnership 0208 520 6829
  • Pre School Learning Alliance 020 8556 3434
    Products and services include specialist publications, directly-managed childcare provision, information and advice, quality assurance, campaigning, research, training and family programmes.
  • Pupils Admission Service 020 8496 5116
  • Rights of Women 020 7251 6577
    Works to attain justice and equality by informing, educating and empowering women on their legal rights. Founded in 1975, it offers free confidential legal advice to women on its advice line. It offers specialist advice in family law, divorce and relationship breakdown, children and contact issues, domestic violence, sexual violence, discrimination and lesbian parenting.
  • Somali Womens Association 020 8503 7121
  • Victim Support 020 8503 6226
    Helps Waltham Forest residents cope with the effects of crime. It does this by providing confidential support and information to victims of crime and to witnesses attending local courts. Services are free, independent of the police and courts, and available to everyone, whether or not the crime has been reported and regardless of when it happened.
  • Waltham Forest Children and Families First Response Service 020 8496 3000
    Provides front-line social care services to children and families in Waltham Forest.
  • Waltham Forest Primary Care Trust 020 8928 2300
    Responsible for: Providing community based health services to local residents including GP, dental, optometry and community pharmacy services, community nursing, specialist children's services and women's and sexual health services; ensuring that the particular health needs of local residents are reflected in the services provided; purchasing services from the wider health community particularly the hospital and mental health trusts.
  • Waltham Forest Race Equality Council 020 8279 2425
  • Young Parents Project 020 8501 9999