Legal charity reinstates asylum help
Tristan Donovan
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Under-18s are set to get extra help after the Children's Legal Centre expanded its team of legal eagles.
The charity has opened a new office in central London and revived its innovative Refugee and Asylum Seeking Children's Project.
Shefail Shah, head of the charity's London office, said the creation of a team in the capital would make it easier for children to seek advice. "It was sometimes difficult to meet clients face-to-face when we were only based in Essex," she said. "The opening of the London office makes us more accessible to children and young people."
The lawyers at the London office on Great Portland Street will offer the same range of legal advice as the charity's Essex headquarters, including help on care proceedings, divorce, housing and education.
Shah said the centre was increasingly handling family cases, but concerns about legal aid payments for family lawyers were not affecting the charity's work. "We're a charity so we're a not-for-profit organisation. We approach things from a different perspective to a private family law practice."
The charity has also relaunched its work with asylum-seeking children and young people. The project was put on ice in May 2007 due to a lack of funding, but the centre has now secured money from Philanthropic Capital and the East of England Regional Assembly to restart its work. The project gives legal advice to professionals who work with refugee or asylum seeking children.
Kamena Dorling, who runs the revived project, said: "It's a shame the project had a period where it was dormant but we're now back up and running. The project is an authoritative point of information and I aim to continue that."
Lisa Nandy, chair of the Refugee Children's Council, said the return of the project was good news for asylum-seeking children. "We have relied a lot on the advice the project has provided.
"The interaction and tension between asylum and child law is complex and children often go without the support they are entitled to. This project will help cut through the complexity and is a great help to asylum-seeking children and those who work with them."
