The main reasons for referring to the Young Persons Rights Service are:
Advocacy
Provide an individualised service for children, young people, and young adults to ensure that their voice, views, and opinions are being heard and considered in all assessment, planning, and decision-making systems relevant to their lives. Importantly this will include those who may communicate their views in alternative ways or are non-verbal through age or disability.
Safeguarding
Take action to promote the rights and welfare of children, young people, and young adults to ensure that they are cared for, supported, and treated respectfully and safely. This can involve responding to identified safeguarding issues or our service highlighting issues presented as part of our direct work. Safeguarding issues could include physical restraint, seclusion or restrictive practices which fall outside of normal parenting response.
Consultation
Provide and seek advice and guidance through consultation with children, young people, and young adults and those carers and professionals who care for and protect them to ensure rights are being respected and implemented into practice.
Participation
Actively empower children, young people, and young adults to access all kinds of available participation activities for connection, fun. Inclusion and to contribute to service development and improvement, encouraging and supporting others to do likewise.
The Aberdeen Young Person's Rights Service Referral Form should be used by professionals to make a referral to the Service for or on behalf of a child, young person, or young adult. It is expected that the child, young person, or young adult should be aware of the referral in line with their age, capacity, and needs. Self-referrals will always be directly progressed.
If you are unsure about making or want to explore whether to make a referral, you can contact the Service to discuss this in more detail.
We often find that such discussion can affirm that someone within the child, young person or young adult’s professional network is already relationally best placed to promote their views/voice as well as confirming any specific role the Rights Service may provide.
If you make a referral you will always be directly contacted by the service to discuss the child, young person, or young adult’s circumstances, needs and experience of trauma. This will inform whether/what intervention may be required.
When a child, young person or young adult has experienced trauma, it is important not to ask them to re-visit these experiences any more than they must. This risks re-traumatising them and being asked to tell their story many times and to different people can lead to them feeling that they are not being heard. This is an important factor in discussing a referral and something that the Service will routinely advocate.
To get in touch
Email: YoungPersonsRights@aberdeencity.gov.uk
Telephone or Text:
- Donna - 07876 780 877
- Forrest - 07733 179 202
- Carmen – 07484 004966