Contact us – Social Work Teams in Moray

Children and Families Access Team
The Children’s Access Team covers the whole of Moray.

The team takes referrals from professionals, families and communities for unborn babies and children up to the age of 18 years old if they are not open to a social worker where are wellbeing concerns. Often other professionals will refer a family to the team having already explored supports through universal services and it is assessed those children now require targeted social work support. 

The team also assesses child protection concerns for children who are not currently open to a long term social work team. These may at times lead to a child protection investigation and we will aim to support families through this process.  We will work alongside families to look at what is working well for them and where there are areas of concern to look at what support is needed to help the family. 

We will carry out initial assessments to assess if the family need longer term support through the East or West Children and Families Social Work Teams or Moray Youth Justice.

If You have a concern about a child, the Children’s Access Team can be contacted on 01343 554 370 or via email on childrensaccessteam@moray.gov.uk

Joint Child Protection Unit
The Joint Child Protection Unit (JCPU) is based in Elgin and covers the whole of Moray.  The majority of children are loved and nurtured by their parents or carers. However, there are some children whose needs are not being adequately met and who are not safe from harm.  The Joint Child Protection Unit has the responsibility to investigate cases of actual or suspected abuse against children.

The Unit consists of Social Workers, Police Officers and Health professionals who work together and are experienced in working with children, young people and their families on child protection matters.  The type of concerns that the unit investigate include Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Emotional Abuse and Neglect.  At all times during the investigation the safety and well-being of the child is the most important issue.

We all have a responsibility to protect children and young people from harm.  If you have any concerns about something that may be happening to a child it is important that we are made aware of this as soon as is possible. Please do not be worried about contacting your local Social Work, Police, Health or Education office as it is important that we all work together to ensure that children are kept safe.

The East and West social work teams provide a service to different parts of Moray; the West Team covers the West of Moray including Elgin, Forres, Lossiemouth and the surrounding areas. The team in the East cover Buckie, Keith and the surrounding areas.

The teams work with children in need of support; this ranges from children in need, children who are looked after to children in need of protection.  To support the needs of children and their wider families we work alongside our partners and other professionals.  These we refer to as the Team Around a Child and this team also includes the child or young person, their parents or carers and other relatives if it is appropriate. 

The initial focus for our work is to assess the needs of a child and their family and we use an assessment tool to help us in our work.  This assessment is co-produced with children, young people and their family. It is used to help inform how best we may help and support a family to live together and also overcome the difficulties that have brought them to work with us. 

Families come to us through a referral to our Access Team and most families will know a referral is being made for them by the Team Around the Child.  Once an assessment is completed we look with the family at longer term supports, if that is needed, and arrange for those supports to be put in place with regular reviews to ensure that we have all got this right. 

These teams can be contacted on:

East of Moray Social Work Team: 01542 837236
West of Moray Social Work Team: 01343 557922

The team is based in Elgin. However, it operates across the whole of Moray in support of children and young people who are assessed as requiring the service. The Moray Youth Justice Team works closely with the Children’s Access Team, Police and Courts.

The focus of Youth Justice is to engage with young people who are in conflict with the law, and this includes input with those young people in Moray who are displaying significant levels of challenging behaviours within their home, community and school environments and who require intensive or specialised support to reduce the level of risk and concerns. The current age range extends from 8 to 18 years.

Moray Youth Justice provides both assessment and interventions in support of those who are at risk of offending and re-offending. To do this, we work in partnership with other agencies and professionals to ensure the safeguarding of children within Moray. Within our day to day business we are able to provide specialised assessments that inform a range of interventions.

Moray Youth Justice can be contacted on 01343 557922

The Children’s Reviewing Team is a small team of Reviewing Officers whose job it is to review the plans of Moray’s looked after children and children in need of protection. Our Reviewing Officers chair Looked After Child Reviews and Child Protection Planning Meetings.

The Children’s Reviewing Team can be contacted by emailing:

reviewingteam@moray.gov.uk