Children and young people

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Comment by Rys Farthing 13 hours ago

Anyone have 2 minutes to spare to support our Free School Meals campaign?

This is your opportunity to email your Parliamentary Candidate and ask them to promise to support free school meals if they are elected. It takes 2 minutes to send your message from: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/free-school-meals/

Currently, only some children from low income households are entitled to free school meals and many simply miss out. In secondary school for example, meals are only free for children from workless households. However, nearly 60 percent of children in poverty have at least one employed parent. Send your PPC an email about this!

Comment by Amelia Gudgion on December 14, 2009 at 1:24pm

I just came across this blog with some useful pointers from Tom Robbins, Campaigner, Battlefront, Channel 4 around on the topic of young people and democratic engagement.
http://melpoluck.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/young-people-and-democratic-engagement/

Comment by Hannah Dobbin on October 14, 2009 at 10:37am

I hope everyone has noticed the ISA Vetting Barring Scheme is now live!

ISA news

Comment by Steve Lee on June 10, 2009 at 2:39pm

Hi Hannah, many thanks for that.

Steve

Comment by Hannah Dobbin on June 10, 2009 at 2:17pm

Hi Steve

I saw this through another bulletin. Will publicise to the NCVYS network.

Thanks
Hannah

Comment by Steve Lee on June 9, 2009 at 1:56pm

NEWS RELEASE


EMBARGO until 00.01 hours 9 June 2009
FAO Newsdesks


New technology is wrong way to reach recession-hit young people

Report puts forward blueprint for legal advice services for teenagers and young adults

Twittering and telephone services are not the way to reach young people in desperate need of advice about homelessness, unemployment and debt, according to a report published today by Youth Access and the Law Centres Federation. Recession-hit young people prefer to get advice about their problems from a face to -face service targeted specifically at them.

As youth unemployment soars and young people’s need for advice on homelessness, benefits and debt reaches unprecedented levels, policies which direct resources to generic advice providers, telephone advice and internet-based services is likely to leave many young people without the help and support they need to overcome their problems.

Young people are more likely to have civil legal problems than the rest of the population, says the report, Rights Within Reach. However, many don’t get the help they need. Every year, an estimated 200,000 young people try but fail to get legal advice with severe consequences for those individuals and for society as a whole.

The report, based on research with advice agencies and young people, puts forward a blueprint for effective legal advice services for young people. Its key findings include:
• Young people primarily want and need advice face to face, rather than by mobile or online.
• A strong one to one relationship between adviser and young person is vital to improving the young person’s chances in the long-term.
• Advice should be provided in a place where young people already go for help such as youth drop-in centres, rather than legal centres.

Legal advice can change young people’s lives, as Keiley, a young woman helped by an outreach legal advice service for young people, testifies:

“Within 5 years of being kicked out of home I graduated with a law degree; this would have never been possible were it not for the advice, representation and guidance from my legal advisor who got me housed and then kept in touch.”

The report’s other findings include:
• Young people’s participation in the planning of advice services appears to improve their accessibility and impact.
• Advisers need to have both the ability to engage young people and sound legal knowledge of young people’s rights and entitlements.
• Services work best where youth agency staff offer holistic advice and support to young people, with legal advisers concentrating on legal remedies.

Barbara Rayment, Director of Youth Access, says:
“Young people both need and benefit from legal advice far more than the general adult population, yet they are considerably less likely to successfully obtain it. In this recession, where young people are hit hardest of all, the message is clear that young people need specialist targeted services to help them tackle their problems”,

Julie Bishop, Director of the Law Centres Federation, says:
“Legal advice can change young people’s lives, but only if it is delivered in the right way. Twittering and telephone services don’t provide real solutions. This report shows how to provide an effective and affordable service to help young people cope with the recession.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:
For more information, a copy of the report, case studies and access to interviewees, please call:

Steve Lee, Policy Officer, Youth Access
020 8772 9900 / 07966 739308 steve@youthaccess.org.uk

Mandy Wilkins, Young People's Project Manager, Law Centres Federation
020 7428 4419 / 07974 227332 mandy@lawcentres.org.uk

The full report is available to download at: http://www.youthaccess.org.uk/publications/upload/RightsWithinReach_FullReport_highres150dpi_online.pdf and http://www.lawcentres.org.uk/publications .

Youth Access is the national membership organisation for a network of 200 youth information, advice and counselling services, which deal with over 1 million enquiries a year on issues as diverse as sexual health, mental health, relationships, homelessness, benefits and debt.
Further information: www.youthaccess.org.uk.

Law Centres Federation is one of the largest providers of specialist legal advice and representation in the UK. It is the national membership organisation for a network of 55 Law Centres which provide free independent legal advice and representation to the most disadvantaged members of society.
Further information: www.lawcentres.org.uk

Notes on figures:
• Estimate of 200,000 young people annually trying but failing to get legal advice calculated by Youth Access using data from the 2004 Civil and Social Justice Survey (CSJS) supplied by the Legal Services Research Centre (LSRC).

Comment by Hannah Dobbin on February 25, 2009 at 9:29am

Hi Alex
As a membership organisation, NCVYS has policy groups/ communities of interest groups, but unfortunately these are only for our members (maybe you'd like to join!?!). Outside of the NCVYS network I'm only part of NCVO's policy forum really. I'm also a member of NCVO's Parliamentary Workers Group.
Another thing that might interest you is that NCVYS, along with the British Youth Council and YMCA England, run the Secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Youth Affairs. I can add your name to the distribution list for information about that if you like? If so email me your details hannah@ncvys.org.uk
Thanks
Hannah

Comment by Alex Burch on February 24, 2009 at 5:42pm

Hi. I work for a youth-led organisation (Independent Academic Research Studies). we are a social policy thinktank aimed at getting young people to influence policy and practice.
I'd like to get more involved in more policy forums- has anyone got any suggestions for me? anyones that you are linked into or your organisation recommends?
Alex

Comment by Sophie Griffiths on January 26, 2009 at 4:27pm

Thanks for setting up this group Hannah!

I'd also be interested to know what other people are working on relating to children and young people. I'm working on issues such as financial capability for children and young people, housing/homelessess and health as part of the Speaking Out project in partnership with NCYVS.

Further information is available at http://www.childrenengland.org.uk

Comment by Hannah Dobbin on January 26, 2009 at 4:11pm

Hi I've set this group up as a starter. I'm interested in what other people are up to around children and young people, see if there are any opportunities for partnership working etc. You can see the kind of things I cover on the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services website: http://www.ncvys.org.uk