Cl@n childlaw is one of seven Edinburgh charities that have received a total of £32,500 of funding in the latest awards from Corra Foundation. Their award of £5,500 will be used to help pay the salary of the Chief Executive and Principal Solicitor.
Speaking about the funding Alison Reid, Chief Executive, said: “We’re planning on expanding our service because of the level of demand there has been, and having this funding in place for our core legal advice and representation work is invaluable. We work to improve the life chances for children and young people in Scotland by making sure that every young person in Scotland has access to the legal advice they need, and by securing the recognition and enforcement of their rights in Scots Law. In the last year we have represented over 300 children in Edinburgh and the Lothians, which was an increase of 17% on the previous year. Of these young people, 78% were Looked After Children and 61% were aged 12 to 18 years old. The youngest child we’ve represented has been just nine years old.”
Cl@n childlaw uses evidence from its core representation work to help to influence policy development to improve outcomes for children. Its policy development unit is also linked into the Centre of Excellence for Looked After Children. As well as this they have trained over 400 professionals who work with children and young people, ranging from paediatricians to foster carers, and 72,000 children and young people have received their information booklets on children’s rights and the law.
Mary Craig OBE, Chief Executive of Corra Foundation, said: “Many law firms do not want to take on Legal Aid work with children as it is often time consuming and not profitable. It is obvious from the number of people cl@n childlaw supports that there is a great need for their services. We first funded this work in 2008 and have been able to make an award every year since then. We’ve also helped out with a capacity building grant to help the organisation develop its plans for expansion, so it is great to see this now being progressed. It’s hard to overestimate how important this work is, especially as it is the only service of this type available in Scotland, and what a difference the right support at the right time can make to these young people for the rest of their lives.”
Other Edinburgh based charities receiving funding are: Dignity Alert & Research Forum which will receive £4,000 to help pay the salary of the Programme Officer; Drylaw Telford Community Association which received £4,000 to help cover the salary of the Community Engagement Worker; the Tailor Ed Foundation which was awarded £5,500 towards the salary of their Project Manager; Positive Help received £4,000 to help pay the salary of their Administrator; LGBT Healthy Living Centre was awarded £4,000 to help towards the salary costs of the Befriending Co-ordinator; and Befriending Network Scotland received £5,500 to help pay the salary of their Administrator. This funding is part of the Foundation’s latest awards to charities across Scotland which saw 37 charities share a total of over £154,000.
