ADVICE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

Children and Young People and the Family

Information and advice for Children and Young people including relating to all aspects of family life, is available from citizensadvice.

Leaving Home

You won't always get on well with your parents or carers, but if you're having problems living at home, moving out is not the only option. For information and advice on the various options that available to you, follow this link.

Charities offering support to children and young people

• NSPCC is the UK's leading children's charity, preventing abuse and helping those affected to recover. 
• Childline is the UK's free 24 hour confidential counselling service for children and young people up to their 19th birthday provided by the NSPCC, dealing with any issue which causes distress or concern, includingchild abuse, bullying, parental separation or divorce, pregnancy and substance misuse.

• Coram Childrens Legal Centre (CCLC)promotes and protects the rights of children in the UK and internationally in line with the UN Convention.
  
• The Child Law Advice Service, part of Coram Children’s Legal Centre, provides legal advice and information on family, child and education law affecting children and families in England. This service is provided via their website with how to guides and information pages. A dedicated support telephone line is also available for complex matters and clarifying questions.
  
• MindFull provides online support, information and advice about mental health and emotional wellbeing for 11-17 year olds. MindFull is open every day, between 10am and midnight, and offers support through self help, mentors and councellors.
  
• The Children’s Society provides help for children whatever their need and has a specialist website designed for children to access information and advice on topics ranging from bullying to parents breaking-up.
  
• Kidscape offer advice, support and practical tips on bullying, friendship and frenemies.
  
• YoungMinds offer  advice and support to young people and children about mental health and emotional wellbeing. 
  
• TheMix is the UK's free, confidential helpline for young people under 25 who need help and don't know where to turn. The service is available 365 days a year and young people can contact them by phone, webchat, email, text message or use an online directory, WebHelp 24/7.
  
• Shelter offer housing advice for young people, including leaving home & finding accommodation, claiming housing benefit, homelessness & eviction and housing issues when leaving care.

NSPCCC Leaflets For children and young people   

• How it is: An image vocabulary for children about feelings, rights and safety, personal care and sexuality.

The Online Safety Act

The Online Safety Act is a new set of laws to protect children and adults online. It will make social media companies more responsible for their users’ safety on their platforms.

Introduced in October 2023 following 5 years campaigning by the NSPCC, the bill has a zero-tolerance approach to protecting children and puts particular emphasis on protecting children online, with additional requirements to prevent them from accessing “harmful and age-inappropriate” content.

Social media platforms will be legally responsible for the content they host and keeping children and young people safe online. They could be fined up to £18 million or 10 percent of global annual revenue (whichever is larger) by Britain’s Office of Communications (Ofcom) if found to be non-compliant.

A comprehensive guide to the Online Safety Act is avialble at the following links:

• NSPCC
• GOV.UK
• Ofcom
• SWGfl

Keeping Safe on the Internet

Guidelines and advice to help you keep safe online can be found at the following links:

• Safety net Kids.org.uk
• Childnet International
• UK Safer Internet
• Thinkuknow 
• BBC Newsround
• InternetMatters
• UNICEF

Health, Drug and Alcohol Issues

Help and support for health, drug and alcohol issue can be found at:

MAG-HEALTH ISSUES FOR ADULTS AND YOUNG PEOPLE.