Coram Children’s Legal Centre

Fellow: Amber Rowsell

Part of the Coram group of charities, Coram Children’s Legal Centre (CCLC) is an independent charity working in the United Kingdom and around the world to protect and promote the rights of children. We aim to uphold children’s human rights in law, policy and practice within the context of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the European Convention on Human Rights.

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We work to ensure that children’s interests are represented at every level of administrative and legal processes and in the production of policy and legislation. Our goal is to improve access to justice for children through the provision of direct legal services, the publication of free legal information and guidance, training, policy work, research, and international consultancy on child rights.

Founded in 1981, CCLC has over 30 years’ experience in providing legal services to children and their parents and carers throughout the UK. CCLC’s Legal Practice Unit specialises in child and family law, education law, and immigration, asylum and nationality law. We hold Legal Aid Agency contracts in family law and immigration/asylum law and we are one of three national legal aid providers in education law. CCLC operates the Child Law Advice Line, funded by the Department for Education, which provided advice to over 14,500 telephone callers in child and family law and over 2800 telephone callers in education law in 2013/14.

The Migrant Children’s Project (MCP) at CCLC was established in 2004 and works to protect and promote the rights of children in the UK who are affected by immigration control, including asylum-seeking, refugee, migrant and trafficked children. The MCP’s objectives are to ensure access to holistic legal support through an advice line and outreach advice work; to increase the awareness, knowledge and skills of professionals in relation to the rights of migrant children through a training programme and the provision of legal guidance; and to secure positive change in policy, legislation, case law and practice through litigation and policy work, including with the Refugee Children’s Consortium, which we co-chair.

In addition to its UK work, CCLC provides technical assistance to governments and international organisations such as UNICEF, UNDP and UNODC on law and policy reform. Over the past ten years, CCLC’s International Department has worked in over 25 countries to promote the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

For further information, visit our website.