Clan Childlaw announces dedicated legal service for care leavers at Holyrood reception

Children and young people with care experience make up around 80 per cent of the children and young people its lawyers work with.

Head of representation, Julia Donnelly, explained that the new dedicated Care Leavers’ Law Service will enable the charity to provide legal advice and help to care leavers so they can get the support and accommodation they are entitled to through continuing care and aftercare under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014.

The event, ‘Clan Childlaw: 10 years of access to justice for children and young people’, was sponsored by co-conveners of the Scottish Parliament Cross-Party Group on Children and Young People Kezia Dugdale MSP, Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP, Alison Johnstone MSP, and Fulton MacGregor MSP. Speakers included Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC and Thomas Timlin of the Independent Care Review.

The Lord Advocate said: “How the law treats our children says something profound about our society, and about us as human beings”. “In a year that marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the children’s hearing system we can be proud as a society of the humane philosophy that underpins that system”.

“In the context of child law, those like Clan providing information, advice and support, make access to justice a reality for children and young people”.

Co-founder and principal solicitor of Clan Childlaw Alison Reid said: “Back in 2008, I was struck by the difference between what the law said in relation to children and young people, and what was happening in practice.

“Clan Childlaw was founded a decade ago to make the law work better for children and young people.”

Co-founder and policy and advocacy consultant Fiona Jones added: “Every year our lawyers represent around 250 children and young people in Edinburgh, Glasgow and the Lothians.

“Clan Childlaw has helped those children and young people make improvements in their lives and has helped to improve the realisation of children’s rights in Scotland.”