Youth Advocacy Programme

Our Youth Advocacy programme provides advocacy, advice and mentoring support to ensure that children and young people have access to essential services, such as a stable home, a place in education, training or employment.

Our Youth Advocacy Programme has been established to address this complex range of needs by providing the support that enables children and young people to navigate a complex social landscape. Our Youth Advocates are happy to be a constant contact point across the various agencies and beauracracies that our clients deal with. 

The unique position of trust we have with our young people, through being seen as their lawyers and therefore ‘on their side’, and our reputation means that we are in a perfect position to work with this disenfranchised group of young people to help them turn their lives around.

What is the youth advocacy programme?

• The youth advocacy programme is a ‘needs’ based programme, allowing for the provision of support for each individual and their specific requirements.
  
  
• The youth advocacy programme provides direct advice, support and help finding jobs, training or education. This has been a growing area of work and in response to demand we have set up the Opportunities Project with the specific aim of supporting our young people into constructive activities. Find out more click here.
  
  
• The youth advocate refers clients to partnership agencies for help which we are unable to provide for example; immigration, housing, or actions against the police.
  
  
• The youth advocate provides representation in proceedings where legal help is not available such as; acceptable behavior contracts, referral order panels, or school or college meetings where a client is in danger of being excluded.
  
  
• Our clients are able to access the youth advocacy programme through a drop in service or through referrals both internally and from local authorities. Our office is a space that our clients can come into to talk, use the internet, write their CVs or study with assistance.

For examples of the work that our programme undertakes, please click here

Referrals

If you would like to refer a young person to any of our programmes please contact us directly.

Hardship Fund

Clients can apply to access our hardship fund.  A maximum of £250 is available for essential needs.  Part of this fund has been from a kind donation from Garden Court Chambers.  Examples of the use of hardship fund include:

1. Buying a bed for a 15 year old girl who had no furniture at her mother’s house and was sleeping on the wood floors;
   
   
2. paying for a course of counselling for a client with diagnosed PTSD;
   
   
3. financially assisting a single teenage mum to train and become accredited as a doula so she is able to support herself while she trains to become a midwife;
   
   
4. provided a young boy with 3 nights emergency accommodation as otherwise he would have had to sleep on the streets;
   
   
5. paying for a young man’s driving lessons and driving test – this has managed to secure him full-time employment where he has been working for the last year and a half.