Editorial: Let Champions lobby for Policy change

It is clearly a good thing that the youth of Northern Ireland, who already have a champion in the form of children and young people's commissioner Nigel Williams, now also have a minister to promote their needs. And it's great that Rooker is setting up a panel of 25 children and young people to advise him, and youth groups in Northern Ireland have welcomed his appointment. However, it is important that Rooker, like all "children and young people's champions", should have a clear remit.

Before Al Aynsley-Green was appointed to the role of children's commissioner in England, critics worried that he would not be independent from the Government and that he would not have enough power to make a real difference in the lives of young people, particularly when it came to lobbying for changes in government policy. One such policy is Section 9 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants) Act 2004, which gives the Home Office powers to remove benefit and accommodation from failed asylum-seeking families who do not voluntarily return to their countries of origin, and allows under-18s to be taken into care if the family refuse (see p4).