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Innovative animation project shares children and young people’s experiences of the legal system

Posted 14.09.23 by Alice Hinds

animation Children law young people

Made with the input of young people, a powerful new animation project explores the views of children with experience of the legal system, sharing their thoughts on lawyers and the vital work required to uphold children’s rights.

Created by Clan Childlaw, the Alright? Animation project built on a scoping study about the legal needs of children and young people in conflict with the law, providing attendees to the participation groups Youth Just Us (click here for more) and Inside Out (click here for more) with the opportunity to explore the issues more fully.

Produced alongside arts organisation Braw Talent, the short cartoon draws inspiration from real-life experiences, and saw children and young people write the script, explore themes, craft characters, review storyboards and even perform their own voiceovers for a moving and impactful final piece.

“Alright?" is an important call to action from young people about what they want from their lawyers,” explained Claire Lightowler from Clan Childlaw, Scotland’s law centre for children and young people. “It highlights a significant gap between what young people want and what they often experience.

“Children and young people need better support to identify when a lawyer may be able to help uphold their rights, and where this is the case, they need easier access to highly skilled lawyers. Achieving this requires systemic and cultural change, and greater resourcing.”

Not only did the Alright? project provide a creative output for the participating children and young people, it also shares an important message about the need for lawyers who care about the young people they support, and highlights that young people want lawyers who are able to communicate and connect.

Ruth Kerracher of Youth Justice Voices (click here for more) added: “The Rights In Justice project has been a key feature of Youth Justice Voices work. Young people involved in the project have been able to articulate what they need and want from lawyers.

“‘Alright?’ is a powerful output, it was co-produced with young people and really brings to life the importance of relationships, time and what lawyers can do to uphold children’s rights. We hope that greater training is provided to ensure that support is age appropriate and children and young people understand the decisions or processes which impact on their lives.”

Clan Childlaw was established 15 years ago to give children and young people facing adversity in Scotland their own lawyers, protecting and strengthening their rights, giving them a voice in decision-making that impacts their futures, and to improving their lives.

For more information, click here to visit the Clan Childlaw website: www.clanchildlaw.org/alrightanimation

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Three young people with short dark hair sitting on a rocky beach facing away from the camera. One has their hood up and all are wearing checked shirts.

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News: Young men's mental health and participation is the focus of new research

Posted 11 January, 2023 by Nina Joynson

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A new two-year study led by Children and Young People’s Centre will focus on understanding the mental health challenges faced by three marginalised groups of young men aged 16-24.

The project, Men Minds, will see collaboration between academics from three universities with up to twelve young men aged 16-24 to explore masculinities, mental health, wellbeing and help-seeking.

Participants from three groups of marginalised communities will form a Young People's Forum: those who are migrants, those who are LGBTQ+ and those in conflict with the law. 

All three groups are more likely than other groups to face challenges to their mental health, as well as additional barriers to accessing support services and opportunities to participate in research. 

The study aims to understand how research engagement with marginalised young men can be improved, and to co-produce new knowledge on adolescent mental health and help-seeking.

After designing accessible research methods with the initial 12 participants, the Forum will then use these methods to conduct further research with a wider group of up to 80 young men.

More widely, Men Minds aims to engage with non-academic partners to ensure its output contributes to policy and practice change.

The study is funded by UKRI and will bring together academics in Scotland and Australia from the Universities of Strathclyde, Dundee and Monash. 

Dr. Nina Vaswani, research lead at CYCJ, is Men Minds' principal investigator. On the project, she said:

“It’s about creating an environment in which we can explore these ideas, to make information more inclusive and to support young men to lead on developing better research.

“The knowledge that we will gain from having more accessible research methods will also feed into service provision, practice and policy. Our non-academic partners will help with translating this new knowledge into tangible change for young men.”

The project will soon start seeking young men aged 16-24 to join its Young People's Forum.

Click here to visit the Men Minds website

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