Annual Report 02-03

YouthLaw Tino Rangatiratanga Taitamariki ANNUAL REPORT 2002 -2003 Acknowledgements Youthlaw Tino Rangatiratanga Taitamariki Inc. wishes to thank the many organizations and individuals who have provided their kind support and invaluable assistance to its ongoing achievements and success. In particular we would like to thank the Legal Services Agency, Auckland District Law Society, ASB Trust, COGS, CYFA, and SkyCity MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE REPORT Kia Ora tatou On behalf of the Management Support Group of YouthLaw Tino Rangatiratanga Taitamariki, I am delighted to report that we have had an extremely successful and productive year in 2002/2003. Despite the relatively major disruption of having to find new premises and to shift, we have continued to provide advice, support and advocacy for thousands of children and young people throughout New Zealand. As well as undertaking a significant amount of submissions and policy drafting work, and presentations on issues affecting children and young people, our statistics for the year (1 July 2002 to 30 June 2003) show that we had more than 2,000 clients, and that there were over 200,000 hits on our website. The website (www.youthlaw.co.nz) is an excellent source of legal information for children and young people and is another of the ways in which we ensure that our services are available nationally. Not only are we working within New Zealand, YouthLaw is also being heard on an international stage. In June 2003 John Hancock travelled to Geneva to present “Children and Youth in Aotearoa 2003” to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. John contributed more than 50 pages to the publication and was paid by UNICEF to do so; money that was used to fund John’s trip to Geneva. YouthLaw’s involvement in advocating for children’s rights and showing the world the way it is for children and young people in Aotearoa is very exciting. On 1 September 2003 Dr Cidy Kiro was appointed as the new Commissioner for Children. YouthLaw was pleased to see that Dr Kiro was reported in the New Zealand Herald (16 August 2003, “A horribly good voice for the kids”) as saying that poverty and violence remain the big issues facing New Zealand children and that we need to start addressing them by “also promoting children’s rights as a first step – looking at how to increase participation in appropriate decisions about themselves.” Children and young people need to be involved in decision-making concerning them and it is very exciting to hear this from the new Commissioner for Children. Dr Kiro was also reported as saying, “I have to remember that I don’t think like a child. That’s why I have to hear children’s voices.” A good thought for all of us who work with children and young people. As always, a big thank you to all the wonderful people who are YouthLaw – whanau, volunteers, and Management Support Group. It is with your commitment and dedication that we can realise our vision of empowering children and young people. Gretchen Stone Acting Chairperson Management Support Group YOUTHLAW TINO RANGATIRATANGA TAITAMARIKI INC. YouthLaw Tino Rangatiratanga Taitamariki (YLTRT) is a non-profit incorporated society. YL/TRT is the only community law centre that offers a range of free and confidential legal services For children and young people, up to the age of 25 years, nation-wide. The philosophy of YL/TRT encourages self-reliance with the belief that by giving young people the information they need and the options available to them they are able to make their own decisions. Section 85 of the Legal Services Act 2000 defines community law centres as fulfilling the following functions: (1) For the purposes of this Act, a community law centre is a body whose primary function is, or includes, the provision of community legal services to communities with unmet legal needs, and in particular to people with insufficient means to pay for legal services. (2) Every community law centre must identify a particular community that it is intended primarily to serve, and the community can be defined geographically, or by reference to some common interest or characteristic, or both. (3) A body may, for the purposes of this Act, be a community law centre even if it performs functions in addition to those described in subsection (1). (4) In this Part, community includes the individuals who are part of it. As well as providing general legal advice/advocacy and education legal advice/advocacy we provide legal education in the community, produce over 80 resources on areas of the law affecting young people and carry out policy work at a local and national level. BENEFIT TO THE COMMUNITY YL/TRT benefits the community in five distinct ways: · Overcoming access constraints to the law by providing youth friendly legal advice/advocacy/legal information in all areas of the law to young people or adults seeking to assist them. · Overcoming access constraints to the law by providing youth friendly legal advice/advocacy/legal information on school related issues to young people and adults seeking to assist them. · Overcoming access constraints to the law by providing legal education on young people’s rights to young people and the wider community. · Overcoming access constraints to legal information by producing readily accessible resources on law and legal issues affecting young people for young people and adults seeking to assist them. · Representing children and young people’s interests and views at national and local levels by making submissions on proposed laws, policies and actions, providing commentary to the media and other interested bodies and contributing to publications in the interests of our community. AIMS YouthLaw Tino Rangatiratanga Taitamariki seeks to empower children and young people by: · · · · · · · Offering free legal advice and help Helping them to participate in decision making at all levels Helping them to put forward their point of view when laws and policies are being framed Working to end discrimination against them on whatever grounds Compiling and distributing information on their legal rights and responsibilities Ensuring consistency with Te Tiriti o Waitangi Being committed to the principles contained in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989. CODE OF ETHICS 1. We are committed to the principles contained in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 and seek to apply them in our policy and practice. 2. We will never breach the confidentiality of a child or young person and will not disclose information given to us without prior consent, unless it is information: (a) about a proposed crime where someone may be physically injured; or (b) needed by law or a court; or (c) needed to defend ourselves against a child or young person’s allegations of malpractice or misconduct, or a crime. 3. We will comply with the wish of any child or young person approaching us for advice or help to remain anonymous except where this is not possible because of ethic 2. 4. We seek to empower children and young people and will work to ensure that they have a greater say in decisions which affect them. 5. We will not impose our ideas and values on children and young people or their behaviour but will always be supportive and nonjudgmental. 6. We will never try to manage or control the lives of children and young people or their behaviour but, we will give relevant information and advice and will outline available options and support them in their decisions. 7. We will not take action on behalf of a child or young person or seek to involve any other agency on their behalf without first obtaining their informed consent, except where this is not possible because of ethic 2. 8. We will not claim to speak on behalf of children and young people generally but will encourage and assist children and young people to speak for themselves. 9. Unless ethic 2 applies, we will not give advice or advocacy to any adult who claims to know what is best for a child or young person unless we have clear authority from the child or young person. If the child is too young or otherwise unable to give such authority, we must first be satisfied that the adult is truly acting in the child’s best interests. 10. We will provide initial information to adults provided we are satisfied that the adult is acting in a child’s best interests. 11. We will value and respect each child and young person regardless of age, sex, race or culture, sexual orientation, disability, beliefs, family or marital status or employment status. 12. We as an agency are committed to ensuring consistency with te Tiriti o Waitangi. STAFF Paid staff work as a collective and are employed by the Management Support Group (MSG) who are elected at the AGM. Clair Trainor Senior Solicitor; supervision, writing/editing publications, legal advice/information/advocacy/submissions/policy/commentary/media work John Hancock Solicitor; legal advice/information & advocacy, submissions/policy/commentary, media work, Channel Z “John the Lawyer (monthly radio legal advice line) Effie Lokeni Solicitor; legal advice/information/advocacy, submission/policy/commentary. Nick Harris Maori Youth Solicitor; outreach work/community education specifically for Maori youth, legal advice and advocacy to young people seeking a Maori solicitor, submissions/ policy and commentary. Harvena Hudson Solicitor (part-time); legal advice/information/advocacy, submissions/policy/commentary. Jeanie Richards Office Co-ordinator; general administration, production/design and distribution of publications, website maintenance. Bill Booker Accountant (part-time), financial reporting, budgets, account management. MANAGEMENT SUPPORT GROUP Shane Tait Neville Kay Felicity Lynch Andrew Ryan Piers Davies Fiona Auld Neville Kay Rawiri Eriksen Gretchen Stone Chairperson Deputy Chairperson Secretary, Treasurer, Service Evaluation Sub Committee Financial Sub-committee Financial Sub-committee Staff Support Sub-Committee Staff Support Sub-committee Rosemarie Paul Sandy Donaldson VOLUNTEERS We have a number of volunteers who assist us to meet the needs of our community. They work in three main areas: general legal advice, research to inform our law reform and submission work and publications. Volunteers come to us through the Law Schools of various universities, community placements from polytechs and other people with a general interest in issues, which affect young people. We offer volunteers experience, the opportunity to use their initiative, skills development, an opportunity to network with other community groups and social agencies, supervision, guidance and fun. Volunteers for the year include: Phillip Byrnes, Julie Harper, Victoria Hyde, Julia Moore, Anthony Trenwith, Iva Rosic, Kelly Soo, Vicky Ji Yeon Kim, Lee Hyung Won and Ian Brookie . All the staff and the Management Support Group would like to thank all our volunteers for assisting YouthLaw Tino Rangatiratanga Taitamiriki Inc. throughout the year. FUNDING As a Community Law Centre most of our funding is derived from the Legal Services Agency. They are responsible for funding the provision of services to meet the unmet legal needs of a specific Community, who would otherwise be unable to obtain legal assistance. Most of our client group has little or no access to financial support, our funding enables us to provide a free service to meet their needs. We would like to extend our gratitude to the Legal Services Agency, Auckland District Law Society, Community Funding Agency, COGS, ASB Trust and SkyCity. We would also like to thank all the community organisations, members, and supporters of YLTRT who have financially assisted us this year and enabled us to continue to meet the needs of children and young people nationwide. In 2002 the building in which we were located was sold to SkyCity, to be demolished as part of the SkyCity Convention Centre project, as a consequence we had to find alternative premises. SkyCity assisted to us to secure suitable premises and have it refitted to suit our business. We also received some compensation from SkyCity for the surrender of our lease. Whilst the move was disruptive, we have now settled into our new premises and are very happy with the location and the general look of the place. The compensation we received has been beneficial as it has allowed us to employ a part time solicitor for the next 2 years, which will assist us to meet the demands for our services in the short term anyway. We would like to thanks SkyCity for their patience and assistance during the relocation period. We receive a number of donations from community organisations, members and supporters of YLTRT each year; income is also derived from the sale of our publications. We could not continue to provide the services we do without this assistance and thank everyone who made donations or purchased our publications throughout the year. ADVICE LINE REPORT Like our casework, the calls we have been fielding on our advice line have been challenging in terms of their diversity. Due to the increasing popularity of our website as an information resource the calls have tended to involve much more advice work than information, a trend that has been apparent over the last couple of years. Our advice line is open between 10am and 4pm Monday to Friday, with each day assigned to a different solicitor. It forms an integral part of our work, in that it is nearly always the first point of contact we have with our clients, their families or support persons. The advice line provides us with a good gauge on what issues are currently providing young people with legal difficulties and on the impact of new laws and policies on young people (good recent examples being alcohol bans in central city and town areas and the “boy racer” amendments to the Land Transport Act made earlier this year). We receive many of our calls as a result of referrals from community organisations, government agencies and past clients or friends of the caller. We also receive calls as a result of people visiting our website, the number of which have increased rapidly in the last year. In addition to providing advice and answering queries over the phone, we also receive and answer legal questions and requests for advice via email. As in previous years, we continue to receive many education related inquires, criminal and traffic inquires, employment issues, family-law related questions, consumer/debt and insurance questions, police complaints and discrimination and harassment issues. We also have received queries relating to wills and estates, intellectual property and other miscellaneous areas, all of which indicate the diversity of legal challenges that young people face. GENERAL CASE WORK It has been another busy year for general casework at YouthLaw, the scope of which continues to get more diverse each year. We continue to deal with a number of criminal and traffic files. We have had staff appearing in the District Court representing young people at sentencing hearings, status hearings and defended hearings. We have also provided representation for young people at Family Group Conferences in the Youth Justice jurisdiction, prior to the appointment of a Youth Advocate. We also have dealt with a number of employment cases for young people, representing them in personal grievance claims, wages and holiday pay recovery actions and other related matters. This has included advocacy at mediation meetings at the Department of Labour, in proceedings before the Employment Relations Authority and the Employment Court. In the family law jurisdiction, care and protection issues continue to form the bulk of our casework in this area. Like in the Youth Justice area, we have provided advocacy for young people at Family Group Conferences in circumstances where a Counsel for Child is not appointed. We have also been involved in casework relating to civil disputes and consumer issues, particularly with regard to onerous credit contracts (and ensuing Minors Contract Act issues) and disputes relating to car accidents, which have on occasion resulted in Court appearances. Other areas where we have provided advocacy include (but have by no means been limited to) police complaints, issues relating to access to health services, benefits and immigration issues. We have also represented young complainants at mediation meetings at the Human Rights Commission in relation to discrimination and sexual harassment complaints. EDUCATION CASE WORK Our education casework accounts for about 23% of our overall casework. A particular area of concern continues to be the number of suspensions for drug-related matters and behavioural–related incidents for special needs students. Boards of Trustees (BOT) throughout New Zealand are supporting their school’s “zero-tolerance” policies to counter this problem. These policies often include increasing police presence at schools through whole-school drug searches, and random drug testing as a condition for students reinstated after suspension. The whole-school drug search and drug testing continues to be a growing concern for us. Overall strategies to manage drugs in schools continue to be a huge challenge. Last year we requested the Law Commission enquire into the matter of drug searches in schools in our submissions on the “Inquiry into Search and Seizures Powers”. The Law Commission should publish a final report by 30 April 2004. The obstacles for special needs students in receiving education continue. Often these students are forced out of the education system due to exclusion (behavioural problems that are not managed or understood by some schools) or withdrawal because of the lack of resources that seem available to other students. This year we appeared in the High Court at the initial stage of judicial review proceedings for a special needs student who was excluded. Fortunately we were able to settle the matter with the student being reinstated with support. An inflexible criterion for eligibility also prevents a large number of students from accessing the resources that they and their schools, need to receive education. This issue has particular significance in light of the Court of Appeal decision this year in Daniels v AttorneyGeneral, which held the government policy of closing special education units was unlawful. The case was referred back to the High Court for a decision on remedy. Ideally the agreed outcome between the parties should be a significant step forward in special education policy and development and ultimately provide much needed resources for special needs students to access their education. We also deal with a number of cases regarding school violence and harassment involving staff and students. The problem of schools refusing to enrol students without lawful or reasonable justification is another area that has continued to cause concern. In addition, the Ministry of Education continues to be reluctant to use their legal powers to direct enrolment of excluded students. Referrals of excluded students to correspondence and alternative education seems to be the preferred policy. While there are some excluded students for whom these options are appropriate, we consider that most excluded students would benefit greatly from early reintegration into the mainstream school system. We continue to provide advocacy at BOT hearings, advice and assistance through our advice line and make written submissions for students and families living outside of Auckland. OUTREACH WORK A fundamental aspect of YouthLaw’s service is to provide information and education about youth rights directly to the children and young people of Aotearoa New Zealand by way of “outreaches”, or legal education sessions in their education, work, church or social environments. We are also involved in the provision of legal education or training to adults working closely with young people in these environments. Schools, Alternative Education and Private Training Establishments: Over the last reporting year, a large number of schools and education providers have requested our participation in their annual Health Days, Career Information Days and Youth Expos. We were also invited to speak to students who have covered law related topics in their studies, such as, consumer law or employment law as well as issues around alcohol and drugs. In Auckland, we have continued to visit secondary schools and private training establishments, and have been especially busy providing outreaches to alternative education programmes. Outside of Auckland, our Maori Youth Solicitor, Nick Harris has provided outreaches in Dargaville, Morrinsville, Waiuku, and spent three days running outreach sessions with young people and youth workers in Gisborne and the East Coast, in association with Tairawhiti Community Law Centre. Community groups and Government agencies: Community and government agencies including Citizens Advice Bureaux and Drug Arm have requested that YouthLaw provide training for staff working with children and young people. Media: YouthLaw solicitors have continued to provide legal information to our community via the media. John Hancock appears once a month on Channel Z, and he, Clair Trainor and Nick Harris have appeared on TV2’s Flipside programme. Clair and John have also been interviewed on youth related issues by print and television media and Nick has been interviewed by Radio Kia Ora to discuss YouthLaw’s services and common legal issues for young people. Careers Expo 2002: YouthLaw proved to be extremely popular at the Careers Expo 2002, held at the NZ Expo Centre in Auckland. Thousands of students visited the Expo and stopped at our vibrant stand to get free legal information. We all enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with intermediate and high school students, teachers and parents and the chance to promote the rights of children and young people. PACIFIC YOUTH SOLICITOR YouthLaw whanau was very sad to say goodbye to our Pacific Youth Solicitor, Fatima Vaaga this year. Rather than present a Pacific Youth Solicitor report for the year we would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the remarkable contribution Fatima made to the organisation during the time she worked with us. Fatima began working at YouthLaw Tino Rangatiratanga Taitamariki as a part-time Outreach worker in 1999. Her job was to deliver legal education and information to children, young people and groups about the rights and responsibilities of children and young people. Her work took her back home to South Auckland where she was able to utilise her community and church contacts to establish networks at the grass roots level. As a long time Sunday School teacher Fatima bought a wealth of experience and skill in working with children and young people. Fatima has exceptional listening skills and is able to quickly build a rapport with young people by treating them as an equal. As the Pacific Youth Solicitor, Fatima valued the opportunity to educate and advocate for Pacific youth on a local and national level. Along with Vikki Coombes, Fatima established our Youth Advisory Team to allow young people to have a voice and be able to participate meaningfully in our Law Reform and Submission work. Whilst Fatima's main job was Outreach work, she quickly realised there was real need for a position at YouthLaw with a specific focus on, and understanding of, Pacific issues. Fatima was able to facilitate a commitment from YouthLaw to provide culturally appropriate services to the Pacific community, through the establishment of the Pacific Youth Solicitor position. This in fact meant more work for Fatima as the position involved the same Outreach component of work, as well as community liaison and casework! It is testimony to Fatima's commitment to the Pacific community, that she was never daunted by the task and always keen to pursue new ideas and avenues. In addition to this Fatima was an awesome mentor to less experienced solicitors. Up until Fatima's departure, she continued to provide Outreach sessions within the community and teach the legal component of the Police Cadet course run by Manukau Institute of Technology to prospective policemen and women. Fatima also did some fantastic work facilitating a group addressing the educational needs of pregnant teens and young parents. She was also instrumental in setting up a research project about young peoples' attitudes to the police, a project that is still ongoing and she set up a fantastic library of material for use in community education. We would like to finish off this report by reiterating we will all miss Fatima's dignity, grace and aroha and would like to leave you with Fatima's words from last years report "Finally, YouthLaw would like to say a big “faafetai lava” to you all for inviting us into your education, community, church or work environments. We have really enjoyed educating so many children and young people and the opportunity to work with adults and agencies who share our enthusiasm to empower youth in Aotearoa." MAORI YOUTH SOLICITOR Nick Harris joined YouthLaw Tino Rangatiratanga Taitamariki in January 2003 as our new Maori Youth Solicitor. The nature of the role continues to be twofold; firstly to provide community outreaches and secondly to advise and do casework. CASEWORK Nga rangatahi Maori have similar legal concerns to their non-Maori peers. Education, employment and criminal law remain the most topical areas for youth, regardless of ethnicity. The Maori Youth Solicitor position carries with it a share of YouthLaw’s general caseload. This requires flexibility in dealing with clients and families of differing backgrounds and ethnicities. Dealing with Maori clients in particular requires a holistic approach to adequately address cultural issues - the involvement of whanau is important, as is consideration of tikanga in addition to pakeha legal principles. Nick has provided information and advice to a number of Maori clients, predominantly in the area of education law. It is of concern that Maori still seem to figure highly in New Zealand’s school suspension statistics. Obviously, this highlights the need for young Maori and their whanau to have access to information about their legal rights in school before suspension becomes an issue. OUTREACH WORK Nick has maintained a steady flow of outreaches since January 2002. He has held sessions with a varied range of young people, from alternative education groups to school students to gifted children, discussing issues such as rights relating to the police, criminal law, education law, consumer rights, alcohol and drugs and legal ages. He has also presented a seminar on Te Tiriti o Waitangi as it relates to the citizenship and identity of young New Zealanders, at “ignite03”, a youth conference held in the Aotea Centre in April 2003. Through these outreaches Nick has worked to establish networks within the community, which we hope to develop and maintain for the benefit of our client base. POLICY WORK & LAW REFORM The highlight of our law reform work this year has been working with Action for Children and Youth Aotearoa to develop and deliver the non-government report on New Zealand’s compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. We were very happy that one of our staff, John Hancock, was able to attend and help present the report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva. John attendance was as a result of funding from UNICEF, received for the drafting of the Implementations, Definitions and Principles sections of the Report. More information on the report is provided over the page. Once again our casework has provided a solid basis from which to comment to the news media on children’s and young people’s issues. We have spoken about matters such as drug testing and searches in schools, the limits on schools’ jurisdiction to punish students, drag racing legislation, and physical punishment of children. The main topics we have made submissions on are listed below. July to December 2002 o o o o o Request to the Law Commission to enquire into Police drug searches in schools. Submission on role of educational facilities in the lives of young offenders in Choy case Submissions on the Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Bill Submission on the role of the Ministry of Youth Affairs Submissions on the Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Amendment Bill January to June 2003 o o o o o o Updated opinion on Drug Searches and Testing in Schools Submissions to Ministry of Justice on Review of Eligibility for Legal Aid Submissions on Care and Protection Blueprint Submissions to Children as Partners Submissions to Law Commission on court system (“Seeking Solutions” report) Submissions on the Supreme Court Bill Non Government Organisations’ UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Report Geneva Presentation New Zealand ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC) in 1993. The Convention provides a template for children’s human rights and freedoms of universal application and scope. Accordingly, it is the most widely signed of all the UN human rights instruments. Under Article 44 of the Convention, the Government is required to report to the United Nations every five years in relation to progress on its implementation of measures to give effect to the rights contained therein. This process also includes reports from Non-Governmental Organisations on the Government’s compliance with, and implementation of, the Convention. Action for Children and Youth Aotearoa (ACYA) is a national NGO, whose membership list contains many agencies (including YouthLaw) and individuals who work with children. ACYA was charged with the job of co-ordinating New Zealand’s NGO report to the United Nations Committee on the Child. The resulting report, entitled “Children and Youth in Aotearoa 2003” and published in March 2003, was the result of work by many individuals in the NGO sector and totaled 234 pages (not including appendixes). John Hancock, Clair Trainor, Effie Lokeni and Fatima Vaaga made contributions to the text in the Report, with John co-ordinating the Implementations, Definitions, Principles and Civil Liberties sections of the Report. As a result of money YouthLaw received from UNICEF in order to complete the Implementations, Definitions and Principles sections of the document, John was able to attend and help present the report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva. We are very appreciative of the opportunity to be involved in such an important process. Accordingly we would like to extend our gratitude to UNCEF, the ACYA Committee and in particular ACYA’s Chairperson, Alison Blaiklock for their efforts in facilitating this. CONFERENCES & WORKING PARTIES It has been our pleasure to be invited to contribute to conferences on young people’s legal issues as well as taking part in working groups. On occasion we have been offered financial assistance to allow us to travel to different parts of the country, for which we are very grateful. Below are listed the groups and conferences to which we have participated.  Action for Children and Youth Aotearoa. It has been a big year for ACYA with a huge effort going into completing the NGO report for submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (see “Law Reform” report for more information). The report is an excellent document and well worth reading (you can obtain copies via the ACYA website, being www.acya.org.nz.  Pregnant teens and young parents’ access to education working group. In the previous reporting year, an issues paper was presented to the Ministry of Social Development highlighting the group’s concerns around educational options for pregnant teens. The response from the MSD was disappointingly inconclusive. However, the working group has now completed its contribution and those who wish to have joined with another group to continue the work. YouthLaw has assisted with the preparation of information packs for young parents by writing the written the legal section of the resource. The “Young People’s Experiences with the Police” project has stalled somewhat. We are responsible for collating statistical information that has been received and look forward to completing this. However, the work has to be briefed to our new Outreach Worker / Pacific Youth Solicitor now that Fatima Vaaga has left us (see “Pacific Youth Solicitor” report). Public Issues Committee, Auckland District Law Society. Ministry of Housing’s Youth Housing Strategy (with financial assistance to attend the Wellington forum from the MoH) New Zealand Chapter of Australia New Zealand Education Law Association Human Rights Network Agenda for Children New Zealand Association of Adolescent Health and Development Presented paper at Autism NZ regional conference on legal issues in special education. Presented paper at Group Special Education conference “Psychologists in Education: our current and future practice”. Presented paper at Children’s Issues Centre “Joined up Services” conference on drug searches and testing in schools. Presented paper at Australasian Drug Foundation conference on drug searches and testing in schools.  o o o o o o o o o o PUBLICATIONS REPORT This year has been one of consolidation and review in relation to publications for YouthLaw Tino Rangatiratanga Taitamariki. We began with a complete review and update of all our information sheets and updated a number of other resources. Our flick cards were all updated and reprinted in April 2003. Changes included; Amendment to the minimum wage on our "Your Rights at Work" card Inclusion of local bylaws around the carrying and consumption of alcohol in public places and changes to the class of some drugs on our "Drugs, Alcohol & the Law" cards Our flick cards continue to be very popular with schools, CAB's, community organisations, health providers and also featured in many school ball packs. We have updated many of our information sheets these include: o Young, Gay and Lesbian Rights o Young People & their Children, o Young People & STD's o ACC o Young People & Counselling Work is continuing on Young People and Bikes, Health Costs and Young People, Young People and Smoking, Glue Sniffing, Photography and Videotaping of Young People. Our main project for the year has been updating our book "When Can I". This proved to be huge undertaking, requiring many hours of research, proof reading and editing. The good news is that this phase of the work is now complete and is currently being illustrated by our fabulous young artist James Stewart. We also completed a major update on our 'Drug Testing in Schools' opinion. We have redesigned the website to make it slightly more funky, and youth friendly. Buttons on the home page now allow easy access to areas of interest, these include; Who We Are, News, Articles, Resource Orders, Links and Information Sheets. There is still work to be done in fine tuning the site and YouthLaw would like to thank our computer guru, Wayne Stewart of Business Mechanix for all his support and assistance during this project. The response to our redesigned website has been very positive so far and we would like to thank everyone who provided feedback to us about the site, your input has been invaluable in working through any glitches or problems. Month Jan 03 Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Hits 454 2,609 50,559 40,516 52,118 51,969 9,775 Visitors 5 22 3,010 2,860 3,203 2,689 474 ACCOUNTABILITY & CONSULTATION The “community” to which we are accountable is children, young people and the adults who assist and support them. Of course we are also accountable to our funders, who provide the financial resources that allow us to work for our community. Our funders have various reporting requirements, and our website is the primary source of information for our client group whilst our Planning Days provide opportunities for us to discuss priorities for the coming years. The next Planning Day is in November and will look at the ‘big picture’ of where we are heading, before the March 2004 day that will look more specifically at tasks achieved and upcoming. At the Annual General Meeting members of the public can raise issues and ask questions about our work. We consult with young people and agencies and individuals supporting them. Our community outreaches allow us to discuss issues with young people. Our casework offers excellent opportunities for feedback and allows us to periodically review advice and advocacy to evaluate how our service is meeting needs. We have a feedback system by letter for large client files and the daily legal advice line is periodically evaluated. The website has made excellent progress over the last year, with a news section and the articles section both well developed. In addition, many of the information sheets have been updated, and this is one of our regular tasks, in an effort to ensure the information is as accurate as possible. We now receive a regular stream of enquires via our website. Coco-Cola Youth Careers Expo in Auckland was so successful in August 2002 that we have arranged to also attend the Dunedin Expo in September 2003! This will give us a great opportunity to talk face-to-face with young people in the South Island as part of our work as a national organisation. TREASURER'S REPORT For the year to 30 June 2003, YouthLaw Tino Rangatiratanga Taitamariki Inc (YL/TRT) has covered operating costs by $1522.00. That amount has been supplemented by $120,000, which was paid to us by SkyCity in compensation for vacating our office premises in Albert Street. As a result we have been able to relocate and fit-out our new premises, and to keep enough money aside to be able to replace a solicitor who departed early last year - bringing Whanau back to full strength in more pleasant surroundings. Thanks to our office co-ordinator, Jeanie, for her amazing work in negotiating with SkyCity, organising the fit-out, and supervising the relocation. It was as huge job and the results speak for themselves. Thanks also to our accountant, Bill, for his great work in keeping to a very tight budget for yet another year. Grants received this year came from the Legal Services Agency, lawyers within the greater Auckland region (via Auckland District Law Society), the ASM Charitable Trust, Child Youth & Family, and UNICEF, together with donations and koha from many others. Thank you for your continued support. YL/TRT also received financial support by way of incentives and discounts from our suppliers and supporters, including SkyCity (our former landlord), Telecom Corporation of New Zealand Limited, Ihug Limited, Business Mechanix (our computer support), Chapman Tripp Sheffield Young, Wilson Partners (our auditors) and the Auckland City Council. Thanks for your support this year. YL/TRT is being well looked after by whanau, our volunteer staff and the Management Support Andrew Ryan Treasurer