Cardiff Law School – Law in the Real World
Mencap Cymru Student Advice Pilot L AUR I E JE F F E RI ES, E L I N OR HU G HES, N AWAL A S I F, JA N H’ N G
CAR DI F F L AW S CHOOL
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Cardiff Law School – Law in the Real World
Mencap Cymru Student Advice Pilot
Project Objectives: • To assist Mencap Cymru in supporting people with a learning disability, who are encountering difficulties with statutory agencies in relation to issues such as the provision of education, social care and health services. • To form part of Cardiff Law School’s engagement and employability strategy, providing students with the opportunity to develop their practitioner skills and apply their knowledge in a societal context. • To act as pilot to allow Mencap Cymru to evaluate the potential for such a scheme being rolled out more widely, and Cardiff Law School to assess the scope for developing a credit bearing module in clinical legal practice.
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Cardiff Law School – Law in the Real World
Mencap Cymru Student Advice Pilot
Who is eligible for help? The Project’s client is Mencap Cymru. Referrals are made by Mencap Cymru’s Regional Officers, who provide advice and support to individuals with a learning disability and their families/carers. What type of legal problem is eligible for help? The Project will consider referrals arising from any area of law, but will not accept cases where the advice is required urgently, or where public funding is likely to be available to obtain advice from a solicitor.
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Cardiff Law School – Law in the Real World Mencap Cymru Student Advice Pilot
Our Project:
- We are working with Mencap Cymru to provide them with free legal advice in order to aid them and the learning disabled parents that they offer services to when encountering problems with the law. - Specifically, we are dealing with child protection issues that may arise in families where a parent has a learning disability.
- We are creating a legal ‘Tool-kit’ for Mencap Cymru’s regional officers which provides them with a coherent guide to the law in these matters.
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Cardiff Law School – Law in the Real World
Mencap Cymru Student Advice Pilot
Our motivations for taking part in the scheme - Belief that the work we do will have a good impact and make a difference to people’s lives. - Wanted to reach out to the wider community. - Desire to help those that may encounter problems in accessing the law.
- Previous experience of working with people with learning disabilities. - Mencap is a well-renowned charity, wanted to support the good cause. 5
Cardiff Law School – Law in the Real World
Mencap Cymru Student Advice Pilot
Outcomes - Gained a working knowledge of the law concerning access to public services for learning disabled parents, the child protection process and duties of local authorities towards families.
- Have built a good relationship with Mencap Cymru. - We have developed research skills, worked to deadlines and communicated effectively within a team. - This has enabled us to gain requisite skills for future employment. 6
Mencap Cymru Student Advice Pilot
Cardiff Law School – Law in the Real World
How the Toolkit is arranged: - Introduction - Glossary - Local Authorities duties towards learning disabled parents - Child Protection Investigation process
- Local Authorities duties towards children - Public Law Outline - The Court process 7
Cardiff Law School – Law in the Real World
Mencap Cymru Student Advice Pilot
An example of the Toolkit...
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