Youth advice charity steps in to safeguard teenagers

The two-year project, funded with a £784,000 grant by the Department for Education up until March 2015, will work in Hampshire, Leeds and Hackney in London to support vulnerable 13-to 19-year-olds through youth information advice and counselling services. These specialise in offering drop-in, first-contact advice.

The project, called Right 2B Safe, will aim to intervene early when young people contact the services with concerns over abuse, neglect, sexual exploitation, self-harm, violence and homelessness. It hopes to reach at least 1,000 young people.

Barbara Rayment, director of Youth Access, said: “The child protection system is failing to protect older teenagers. We believe young people have a right to be safe.

“There is an important role to be played by voluntary sector advice and counselling agencies that can engage with vulnerable young people on their terms and respond with targeted interventions and a multi-disciplinary approach,” she added.

Right 2B Safe will also develop an evidence base on what effective collaboration between statutory services and the voluntary sector looks like. 

The three areas running the project are:

• Off Centre in Hackney, which will develop best practice in working with sexually abused or exploited young women. It will provide counseling and therapeutic group support to enable young people to come to terms and develop coping skills to deal with the trauma of sexual abuse.
• The Market Place in Leeds will provide self-harm and safeguarding work for 13-to 18-year-olds over a 12-week programme of activities and issue-based sessions. It will offer one-to-one and group sessions.
• No Limits in Southampton will work across Hampshire to target children and young people at risk of abuse, neglect and sexual exploitation with a range of interventions, including drop-in, group work and one-to-one sessions.