How do young people access the service?

The service is web-based.  Individual e-mail accounts are provided by the Children and Young People’s Department to all children and young people within Blackpool schools.  The information will be encrypted to ensure the safe transmission of data both to and from the service.

Who provides the service?

Blackpool Advocacy employs a children’s advocate who will deal with initial enquiries.  Legal advice will either be provided by a local solicitor who is a member of the Law Society’s Children’s Panel or through other specialist advice services.

Which young people can access this service?

All children and young people with access to a computer will be able to access the service free of charge.

Why is this service needed?

There are currently several different agencies working with different groups of children and young people for a variety of different reasons. Most agencies have specific referral criteria, such as age, family circumstances, address etc. CYPRAS seeks to be different in inviting all children to look for answers to their own individual problems and finding solutions for themselves. Many children who do not "present" as having problems may be experiencing real difficulties and do not know who to talk to or where to turn. By providing an independent service to all Blackpool children, we can ensure equality of service provision to help improve the emotional welfare and ultimately the lives of young people who choose to use the service.

What are the benefits for the young people using the service?

Young people using this service will have a degree of anonymity. Obviously we would have their e-mail addresses to reply to, but this would always be on a remote basis. When accessing the service, children would be able to type honestly and freely express themselves without fear, embarrassment or oppression. Blackpool Advocacy has a great deal of experience in dealing with highly sensitive issues with children and young people and can document easily the benefits that a confidential service such as this is able to offer.

Why Blackpool Advocacy?

Blackpool Advocacy currently provides these same services to children and young people who are "Looked After" or those who receive a service from the Children and Young People’s Department. We see this as a straightforward extension to the valuable work which we already do. However, over the years, we have come to realise that many children who need an advocate to help them be heard and understood during difficult times, are simply being overlooked, because of referral criteria. As an organisation whose ethos is centered on equality and empowerment we feel that all children should have the right of free access to this service.