ON YOUR SIDE – our children’s rights advice service

Article 39’s ON YOUR SIDE* children’s rights advice service provides straightforward information about the law to help children and young people in England. This includes children and young people who are in the care of an English local authority but live in Scotland or Wales.

*Graphic by Abi Morris

If you are a child or young person aged 13 or over trying to stop, start or change something that is happening to you in care, in hospital, custody, or a boarding or residential school, and you want help with knowing the law, you can use our contact form here.
If you are a member of our Children and Young People’s Advocates Network, and you need information about the law and government guidance to help a child or young person, you can use our contact form below.
We also try our best to provide helpful information about the law to family members, carers and others fighting for the rights of children and young people in care and/or who live in institutional settings. You can find our contact form below.

Please note: we do not give legal advice, and we cannot help with disputes between parents/partners. Our focus is protecting the rights of children and young people who are (or have been) in care AND/OR children and young people who live in institutional settings such as mental health units, boarding or residential schools and prisons.

IMPORTANT: 

** If you contact us with information which indicates a child or children are, or may be, suffering harm, we will take action. We will always try to discuss this with you first.

** We collect information about what we do, so that we can monitor how quickly we provide help, and the impact we have. We also use this information in fundraising and in our campaigns and other children's rights work. We respect people's privacy so we would never include names or identifying details in public documents, on our website or in social media.

** Please click here to read about how and why we store information, and your right to see and correct any information we hold about you.

CONTACT US FORM – child or young person aged 13 and over

Your full name * Age (IMPORTANT – you must be aged at least 13 years to use this contact form) * Your telephone number (you do not have to give us this, if you prefer to use email only) If you are aged 13, 14 or 15, please let an adult you trust know you are asking us for information about your rights – your parent, carer, advocate or social worker for example. Please ask them if you can give us their email address so we can send them the information too Please tell us the town or city you live in * Your email * Please briefly tell us what you need help with (IMPORTANT: if you tell us that you or other children are not safe, we will take action to protect your rights) *

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Please tick here if you would like to receive information about our children's rights training courses and other events

CONTACT US FORM – members of our Children and Young People’s Advocates Network

Your name Name of your organisation * Name of town/city or the local authority where the child or young person lives * Your email * Your telephone number * Please briefly tell us what you need help with. Please DO NOT give us information which could identify a child or young person, or send us documents concerning an individual child or young person. If you are helping a child or young person in care, please tell us if they are the subject of a care order or are accommodated under section 20 of the Children Act 1989 * Age of the child or young person you are helping * Please tell us if you have any concerns that the child or young person you are assisting may have been subject to racism or other forms of discrimination

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I confirm I am a member of Article 39's Children and Young People's Advocates Network (if you are not yet a member, you can find joining details on our home page – see 'Advocates Network' in the menu)

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I agree to give Article 39 feedback once I have used the legal information provided