The Children's Commissioner for Jersey
About the Commissioner
The Children’s Commissioner for Jersey promotes and protects children and young people’s rights. To do this the Commissioner will tell people about children and young people’s rights and why they are so important. She has a team of people who work with her to make this happen.
Together they look at how the decisions made by certain organisations in Jersey, including the Government of Jersey, affect children and young people’s rights. They also provide advice to those organisations about how they can better respect the rights of children and young people in their work.
The Children’s Commissioner works for every child and young person in Jersey who is:
- Under the age of 18
- Under the age of 25 if they have a disability, have been care experienced or have been involved with the youth justice system
- Placed off-island for their care or treatment
What are the Children’s Commissioner’s powers?
In 2019 a new law was created that established the role of the Children’s Commissioner. This law is called the Commissioner for Children and Young People (Jersey) Law 2019.
It sets out the powers and actions the Commissioner can take, these include:
- Providing children and young people with information about their rights.
- Supporting children and young people to complain.
- Working with people and organisations who provide services to help them to solve any problems or complaints at the earliest opportunity.
- Asking for information from people providing services to children and young people.
- Visiting places where children and young people are cared for, accommodated or receive services and speak to them.
- Investigating cases where the rights of children and young people have not been respected and suggest how things could be improved.
- Going to court for children and young people in certain circumstances.
The Law also restricts what we can do. For example:
- We can’t give you legal advice.
- We can’t enter people’s private homes, unless they request us to.
- We can’t investigate anything relating to the decision-making of a court or tribunal.
- We can’t investigate anything currently before a court or tribunal.
Watch our animation to find out more about the Children’s Commissioner.
Child Welfare
Childline: 0800 1111
Childline is a free, private and confidential service where you (as a child or young person) can talk about anything. Whatever your worry, whenever you need help, Childline is available for you, online, on the phone, anytime.
You can find out how to contact Childline online by visiting their website here.
Childline is available:
24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Children and Families Hub: 01534 519000
If you have a concern about a child in Jersey, please contact the Children and Families Hub.
You can also email the Hub at childrenandfamilieshub@gov.je
The Children and Families Hub working hours are 8:30am-5pm Monday to Thursday; and 8:30am-4:30pm on Friday.
An out-of-hours service will operate at other times: the duty social worker can be reached by calling the Hub (01534 519000) and selecting option 4 or via the Hospital Switchboard on 442000.
The Children and Families Hub also offers support, advice and information for families.