An appropriate adult supports children or vulnerable adults during police procedures, The Young Lives Foundation is calling for more people to take up the role.
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00:00The police normally have to contact friends and family first to see if they want to be
00:04the appropriate adult for the child. In the Young Lives Foundation we predominantly deal
00:09with children from the care system, children who are disadvantaged and therefore they don't have
00:14the luxury of a family member there to support them and that's where our volunteers step in.
00:20Our volunteers go and support someone like Jamie who has allegedly committed a crime
00:27and they support them through the whole police process.
00:30And you said that this was a sort of a problem in the 80s that there was lots of miscarriage of
00:34justice but nowadays do children ever actually go with an appropriate adult or can they go for a
00:39long time without one that the custody process is delayed? Obviously we see it happen quite quickly
00:44in this because it is this one shot take film they need to get through it quickly but in some
00:48cases if they can't contact family or they can't find an appropriate adult if it's a tricky time
00:52of the night the morning for instance do children have to wait a long time or perhaps sometimes go
00:57without or does that not happen? Yeah that's right but they can't go without because they
01:00have to have an appropriate adult under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act Code C that's the
01:06legislation that underpins it so they must have an appropriate adult but you're absolutely right
01:12there can be inherent delays in that process waiting for police to be ready, waiting for
01:17solicitors to arrive, the police have changeover of shift and that delays everything so there are
01:23a number of built-in delays it is a fantastic volunteer opportunity for anyone of any age,
01:30older people are very very welcome but of course there are some delays in custody so you can be in
01:35custody for you know a few hours so you have to bear that in mind if you become a volunteer for
01:41the Young Lives Foundation. Yeah tell us a bit more about what it is like to be a volunteer because
01:46you know this type of content that we've seen in the show you don't see this every day
01:51this is a really strong topic, strong incidents that children can get caught up in so
01:57it can't be easy at all times. Yeah it is this is a strong incident and it is a strong subject
02:03and it can be quite scary for people even more scary for the person who's allegedly
02:08committed this crime and that's the reason why our volunteers are so welcome in custody
02:14because I class them as like a beacon of light you know they walk into a very dark world
02:20there are normally no windows in custody the young people and the vulnerable adults are put
02:26into a cell the door is slammed they've got a metal toilet in there a very thin bed with a
02:32very thin mattress the police are amazing they do a really really good job most of the time
02:37sometimes they get it wrong we all do we're all human beings but it is a very dark process and
02:42to have someone there who's just for you someone who is not interested in any allegation they're
02:48just there for you as a human being just to support you while you go through this very very
02:54difficult process it's a wonderful volunteer opportunity for anyone. Is this a particular
03:00issue here in the county are you requiring more people for volunteers of course you're you're
03:04calling out for more people to get involved but why is that is there a lack are there a lot of
03:08children waiting is the process being delayed because of it? Yes the process isn't delayed
03:13because the volunteers that we have in the Young Lives Foundation are stretched to capacity but
03:19they will always arrive in custody however as with anything there's always a turnover of volunteers
03:26and so we're always looking for new volunteers in the Young Lives Foundation we offer a range of
03:31roles at mentoring and all sorts of other roles but the appropriate adult role is very very
03:39important and I would really ask anyone for having a spare time come forward volunteer it's a fantastic
03:45role you will absolutely love it and age is no barrier. Yeah I was going to ask what are the sort
03:50of requirements to doing it is there any specific skill set that you need to to be able to go into
03:55this role? Well life skills so it would be great if you're a good communicator if you have a sense
04:00of humour if you're patient it helps if you have a car because we have seven custody suites ranging
04:07down from Margate up to Maidstone and Medway so it's very helpful to have a car we can take people
04:14on without a car if they live just around the corner from a police station but of course that
04:17narrows the field down somewhat but life skills are so important and really age doesn't matter
04:24I myself are in my 70s I have volunteers in their 80s. Wow that's great and it is a huge part of
04:30course it's sort of replacing that aspect of having someone like a parent or a loved one with
04:36you so you do need to have that sort of calming I imagine presence around you to put children at
04:41ease because they are allegedly accused of a crime at that point as well it's really important
04:45that you're mentioning as well and just tell me a bit about the background of why you actually
04:50sort of set this charity up why there is this push and this call what made you realise that
04:54this was a really big issue? Yes well our chief exec Stephen Gray has been running the charity for
05:00some time and he realised there was this huge gap in the market for children from the care system
05:07children who are not being supported by loving family and that's how the Young Lives Foundation
05:12came into being. The Young Lives Foundation offers a whole range of services for young people
05:18and this is one of the services that I manage. I manage a couple of services but this one in
05:22particular which is topical is the appropriate adult service and the appropriate adults came
05:28about in the 1980s because a young man called Maxwell Confey was found murdered and three
05:33children were accused of his murder and later they were found not guilty and that changed the law.
05:40Yeah and of course I mean this Netflix drama as well is very popular at the moment and do you
05:44think it will raise awareness for appropriate adults as well would you like it to be shown
05:49more widely? I really do hope so I really hope it does raise awareness the appropriate adults are
05:55doing a great job in this documentary in this Netflix series however the reality is a little
06:00different and I would urge anyone who has any spare time please come forward contact us we need you.