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A

Abuse

No one has the right to touch or treat you in a way you don’t like. There are four main types of abuse, which are wrong and should not be happening to you.

Physical abuse - this is when someone is hurting our body for example by punching you, beating you or burning you.

Sexual abuse - this is when someone is for example touching your body in a way or place you don’t like, making you have sex or watching other people have sex or making you do sexual things to them. There is also a lot of porn on the internet and photos, so showing you this kind of thing is also wrong.

Emotional abuse - this is when someone says mean things to you and makes you feel bad about yourseIf or makes you feel scared by things they say or by the way they behave for example: name calling, fighting in front of you.

Neglect - this is when you are not being looked after properly, maybe not getting the right food or clothes or maybe not being sent to school or not getting any love and attention.

In Plymouth we have rules which help to protect you. If someone is abusing you

• tell someone close to you like a member of your family.
• or you may be able to tell your social worker, foster carer, teacher, doctor, advocate or perhaps a close friend.

If you are being abused, it needs to stop! You must be listened to and helped. Whoever you talk to should help you tell your social worker. They will want to act to protect you. This may involve them doing a Child Protection investigation. This will look into what is happening to you and make decisions about how to protect you.

If you feel you cannot talk to anyone you know, then you can telephone one of the Child Protection Organisations listed on the Contacts page in this section. They are there to help children and young people and will listen to you and advise you on what you can do.

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Accommodated on a voluntary basis

Accommodation or being Accommodated are words which are used when a child or young person is looked after by Plymouth City Council with the agreement of your parents. This is also called section 20. of Children Act.

Accommodated is:

• an arrangement made freely between your parent(s) or yourself if you are aged 16 or over, and Plymouth City Council.
• sometimes referred to as being in voluntary care.
• when we may have agreed to look after you if your parent(s) were unable to do so for some reason and were asking Social Services to help.
• when we  may also have agreed to accommodate you at your own request if you are over 16 years, even if your parents did not agree with this.

There are records which have to be filled in with you and your parents about how to look after you and for how long.

When we are accommodating you, your parents still have what the law calls ‘parental responsibility’.

Parental responsibility means:

• that your parents, not us, have the right to make decisions about what happens to you.
• your parents have the right to take you home at any time.

However, if we feel it is not safe for you to be at home we may go to court and ask for an Emergency Protection Order. If the court agrees to this, then we will continue to look after you while the court decides what is best for you in the future.

When you are accommodated by us you may live with foster carers, or live in a children’s home or other type of home, such as family and friends. In all cases of children and young people being accommodated, their parents still have full parental responsibility.

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Adoption

Some people think that only babies get adopted but you can be adopted at any age up to 18 years old. Adoption is the legal action which completely and forever transfers your parent(s) duties to new parent(s). You get a new family, take on the new family’s name, and get a new birth certificate.

When you are looked after by Plymouth City Council, we will work hard to get you back with your family. If this is not possible, we will try to find you a new family. Sometimes, adoption is a possibility, and this will always be discussed with you to find out your views.

The Children Act 1989 has been updated and combined to introduce the Adoption and Children Act 2002. The main provisions and laws of this act are:

• to put the needs of the child at the centre of the adoption process, making sure the child’s welfare is most important.
• to encourage more people to adopt looked after children, making sure more support is available.
• to enable unmarried couples to adopt jointly, increasing the amount of people who can adopt.
• to provide better access to information held in adoption agency records, so your needs and views can be met better.
• to help cut harmful delays in the adoption process, making things quicker and easier.
• to strengthen the safeguards for adoption, improving legal controls, so your time in care is safer.
• to introduce a Special Guardianship Order, for security and permanence for children who adoption is suitable for, but cannot return to their birth family.

All of these things are to help you get a better and safer future.

If it is decided that adoption is the best thing for you:

• we will try to find a new family to adopt you or it may be that your current carers wish to adopt you.
• after you have lived with them a while, that family will go to court to get an Adoption Order with our support.

Sometimes when you are adopted, you might be able to keep in touch with members of your first family. (This is sometimes called your birth family). If you are being adopted and want to keep in touch with your birth family, you need to ask your social worker if this is possible.

If you are already adopted:

• you have a right when you become 18 years old to find out more details about your birth family and get a copy of your old birth certificate.
• and you want to try and find your birth parents you can put your name on a Contact Register to say you are looking for them. This Register helps if they are also looking for you. You should talk to your social worker if you want more details about this.

When you are 18 years and have left care then you can contact us at any time to find out about your adoption details.

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Advocates

When you attend meetings or reviews you will be offered the help of an Advocate from the Youth Enquiry Service (YES). You may have questions about the meeting and what is going to be talked about. The Advocate can talk to you about these things and help you work out what you want to say. They can attend the meeting with you, if you would like or they can go to the meeting instead of you if that’s what you want.

A YES Advocate is:

• someone who doesn’t have to think about other people at the meeting, only you.
• someone who will talk to you about how you are feeling about what is happening and how you would like it changed.
• someone who is a trained volunteer or paid worker who is not part of Plymouth City Council.
• someone who knows how meetings are run and can help you take part.

A YES Advocate can:

• visit you where you are staying, or somewhere else if you prefer to talk to you about the meeting.
• write down what you want to say, in your own words.
• talk to you about how you want to take part in the meeting.
• make sure that people listen to what you have to say and answer your questions.
• offer support to you to tell Social Service or anyone else what’s wrong and needs to be stopped.
• help you think about the different people you can talk to, who may be helpful in some way.
• keep what you say private and between you and the advocate, if this is what you want, unless you or someone else is at risk of being hurt from what you have told us.

You have the right:

• to feel safe and comfortable with your advocate.
• change your advocate for some else.
• complain about your advocate if they say or do something that they shouldn’t.
• decide not to have an advocate.

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Appeal

When a court makes a Care Order or any other type of order for you to be looked after by Social Service, you and your parents may be able to appeal against the court’s decision.

An appeal means that you have a good reason to believe the court made a wrong decision and you want them to have another look

If you believe the court was given the wrong information or if you can prove that someone lied when they were giving evidence this might be reason for an appeal. You must have a solicitor to advise you!

If you do want to appeal against the decision:

• you must go to a solicitor very quickly because your solicitor must make an appeal within 14 days of the court making its decision.
• if you are appealing against an Interim Care Order, then your solicitor only has seven days in which to make an appeal.
• your solicitor must also be able to prove to the Law Society that there were good reasons for an appeal in order for you to be given legal aid.

Legal Aid means that when people don’t have much money they can apply to the Legal Aid Board to ask it to pay for the costs and charges of their solicitor. However, if you are appealing against a Care or Supervision Order, and the Law Society think you have a good reason to appeal, then you will be given legal aid to pay for your solicitor.

If your appeal did go ahead:

• it would be listened to in a different court and not the court that made the original Order.
• the Appeal Court can either decide that the decision made by the first court was right in which case you would have lost your Appeal and the Order would still operate.
• or the Appeal Court can decide that the first court made the wrong decision and then make a different one.
• you (or we) may be able to appeal again until you get a hearing in the House of Lords. You usually need to ask the court for permission to appeal as you go higher up the court system. This can be very difficult and you will certainly need legal advice about this.

When an Emergency Protection Order is made, this only lasts up to eight days, so you cannot appeal against this Order. However, you can challenge the Order after three days if you want it removed.

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