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‘Going to Court, a guide for young people’ launched in Letterkenny

3rd March 2020

The Court House in Letterkenny was the venue for the launch of ‘Going to Court, a guide for young people’ on Friday morning. The guide was developed by Donegal Children & Young People Services Committee (CYPSC) to support young people who may come in contact with the court service. Donegal CYPSC members were joined by Court Services staff, Probation Service staff, Garda Síochána and Donegal Youth Service to mark the launch.

Commenting on the new resource, Anne Timony Meehan, Donegal CYPSC Coordinator said “The ‘Going to Court Guide for Young People’ is an initiative from the CYPSC Safe & Secure Subcommittee led by Gareth Gibson, Donegal Youth Service, Geoffrey McGonagle Court Services, Michael Harrison Garda Siochana and most importantly with the participation of young people. It was developed to support young people who come in contact with the Court services and to reduce any anxiety or stress they may feel. It covers topics such as types of courts, what happens after someone commits a crime, being called as a witness or as a victim of crime or as a defendant. It covers legal terms, giving evidence, who will be in the court room and what they do.”

Garda Michael Harrison, speaking on behalf of the Safe & Secure Subcommittee explained “The purpose of the booklet is to provide advice for all young people who may have to go to court either as a witness, injured party or defendant. Court can be a very a frightening place for an adult never mind a child or young person who has to attend and give evidence for whatever reason. By reading this booklet we hope to reduce the anxiety that children experience when attending court.”

Launching the guide, Judge Kelly said “When you launch a book you want everyone to read it, but this is a book that I hope no young person will ever need. It sets out in a very clear and easy to understand way the court process and everyone’s role in it. The booklet is a very worthwhile initiative by Donegal CYPSC and the Donegal Youth Service and it is also thanks to the support of the Department of Children and Youth affairs that it was published.”

The Going to Court Guide is funded by the ‘Better Outcomes Brighter Futures Fund’ from the Department of Children & Youth Affairs. 

For further information contact: 
anne.timonymeehan@tusla.ie  /  087 3527651

                                                 

From left rear – Anita Toner Court Services, Frankie McCreevey Donegal Youth Services, Garda Michael Harrison, Anne Duke Probation Service, Gareth Gibson Donegal Youth Service, Anne Timony Meehan Donegal CYPSC Coordinator,

Conference on Coercive Control 11 Dec 2019

Great article and slot on RTE 6 one news, by Eileen Magner RTE Northwest correspondent who attended the Conference on Coercive Control held in Letterkenny yesterday.
Over 300 people attended with strong representation from an Garda Siochana, Donegal CYPSC, Tusla, HSE, Donegal Domestic Violence Service, Womens' Aid, CAWT and Community & Voluntary sectors. This was a collaborative event co- funded by Donegal CYPSC Safe & Secure Subcommittee and Tusla and linked to the MACE project (Multiple Adverse Childhood Experiences)

http://www.rte.ie/news/2019/1211/1098516-coercive-control-conference/

Donegal CYPSC News:

To keep up to date on activities in County Donegal See: 

facebook@CYPSCDonegal

twitter@CYPSCDL

The Directory of Disability Services in Donegal & the Donegal CYPSC bi-lingual info leaflet

were launched on 10th October 2018 as part of the celebrations around the launch of the Donegal Children & Young People's Plan 2018-2020. This Directory was compiled and produced as a collaborative project with the Bluestack Special Needs Foundation in Doneal town, who have also taken on the task of updating the Directory on a Bi-annual basis.         

For inclusion in the Directory please contact info@bluestackfoundation.com

See Local Resources for further info on the Launch and Learning Seminar

Click here to download the Directory of Disability Services in Donegal

Click here to download the Donegal CYPSC Info leaflet

New Members 

Donegal CYPSC are delighted to welcome two new members. Cameron Lynch and Cara McGonagle representing Donegal Youth Council attended their first Donegal CYPSC meeting on 7th September 2017. They will serve a one year term. They are supported in their role by Carlyn Maguire Donegal Youth Service. They are pictured here with some of the CYPSC members

Back left to right: Martina Doyle FRC Network, Cameron Lynch DYC, Cara McGonagle DYC, Martine Ní Chainann Udarus Na Gealtachta, Front left to right: Anne Timony Meehan CYPSC Coordinator, Ann McHugh Donegal ETB, Deirdre Mc Hugh NEPS and Michael Harrison Gardaí

Donegal CYPSC Members Exciting Events in April 2017

‘Celebrating Achievements’

Donegal Children & Young People’s Services Committee (CYPSC) and Subcommittees have engaged in successful inter-agency projects to improve outcomes for Children & Young People in Donegal for several years.

The Celebrating Achievement Event is an opportunity to celebrate what has been achieved, facilitate networking across Donegal CYPSC and Subcommittees and motivate and re-energise Donegal CYPSC.  This is also an opportunity to promote this valuable work to the wider community.

 ‘Improving the lives of children and young people across Donegal’

Donegal Children & Young Peoples Services Committee celebrated 10 years inter-agency co-operation and collaboration, to improve outcomes for children and young people across the county. Donegal Children & Young Peoples Services Committee aka Donegal CYPSC hosted a ‘Celebrating Achievement Event’, in the Mount Errigal Hotel, Letterkenny on Thursday 27th April 2017.

Describing the event Anne Timony Meehan, Donegal CYPSC Coordinator said this event is about showcasing what has been achieved in the last decade, it is about acknowledging and applauding the commitment of those individuals who established and held on to their inter-agency relationships and continued to work together, throughout the years of recession, when there was often little or no support for them to do so.

In his Opening Address, Mr Michael Gallagher Donegal CYPSC Chairman and Tusla Area Manager welcomed the 90 delegates who represented the 36 organisations of the Donegal CYPSC Family. In his opening address Mr Gallagher made specific reference to the journey that the agencies and organisations that constituted CYPSC were on. The shared goal of improving the lives of children and young people and their families in the communities in which they live is a challenging one and is one that we will not be able to achieve working individually. When our agencies cooperate and work together the sum of our parts is greater than the whole. The journey that we are on is one where we need to support each other in achieving each other’s aims and in doing so achieve our own; and then the ultimate beneficiary will be our children and young people.

Short presentations showcased the work of the Life start project, the Young Carers project, the Parent Hub Website, Donegal Jigsaw, BookWorm Babies, Creating Lifelong Readers and READ DL.

Maureen Kerr, an active contributor in the Education & Learning Subcommittee of CYPSC said, “I thoroughly enjoyed the Donegal CYPSC event this morning. It was great to meet and catch up with many of the colleagues that I have worked with on CYPSC projects in recent years, as well as meeting new faces who I hope to work with in the future. I particularly enjoyed the speakers from the Youth Council, who have achieved so much in a short space of time, and the young carer who spoke, who is an inspiration.” Maureen Kerr, Senior Executive Librarian, Donegal County Library

Other collaborative initiatives highlighted, include implementing the Well-Being Guidelines in Schools, the roll out of Children First Training and CPD Briefings for those working in the Court System.

Margaret Doherty, Comhordaitheoir/ Co-ordinator, SICAP Ghaeltacht, commented, “Hearing peoples personal reflections of challenges experienced as a result of the changes they were asked to make to already established services, and the rewarding success they found that to be on completion, was inspirational for those of us who are challenged in a similar way within our own work. 

While encouraged by the stories of the young carers, and the sense of their own individual development grown through the support of many service providers, the key message of this celebration was evidenced on the partnership approach enabled through CYPSC.

For me, listening to the range of speakers and the stories they reflected was as much a celebration of the success of inter-agency collaboration as it was for the improved supports provided to the families”.

Eight members of the Donegal Youth Council gave the final presentation of the event demonstrating how much they had achieved in the six months since their election. “It was a great day listening to all the presentations, the standout for us was Jigsaw as it is so relatable. It was also nice to see how we contribute to other organisations/committees. Another high point was to hear about a Young Carer’s perspective and experience of the Young Carer’s project” Donegal Youth Councillors

“I learned so much in the few hours I am extremely grateful.” Wendy McCarry, Bluestack Special Needs Foundation

 “It was a very interesting and informative morning, well planned and presented. From a Family Resource Centre perspective it provided a valuable opportunity for networking with other children’s services providers” Kathleen McHugh Donegal FRC Co-ordinator on behalf of the Donegal FRC Network. 

Donegal CYPSC is currently working on developing a 3 year Children & Young Peoples Plan for County Donegal. 

     Presentations in Agenda Order
     Click here for link to ' Lifestart Re-configuration', Mary Walker Callaghen
     Click here for link to 'Young Carers project', Frankie Mc Greevey & Aiden Curran
     Click here for link to 'Well-being Guidelines in Schools', Deirdre Mc Hugh
     Click here for link to 'Parent Hub', Patricia Lee & Bairdre Cahill
     Click here for link to 'Jigsaw', Sean Mc Grory
     Click here for link to 'Education & Learning', Sandra Buchanan
     Click here for link to 'Safe & Secure', Michael Harrison, Paddy Muldoon, & Gareth          Gibson
     Click here for link to 'Economic Wellbeing', Liam Ward
     Click here for link to 'Donegal Youth Council - Achievements to date', Aisling    Callaghan, Meghan Walden, Darren Connaghan, Abby O'Donnell, Padraig Mc  Gettigan, Conor Walker, Ciaran Foy, Aine Sweeney
     
 Click here for link to Report of Participants Feedback on this event

CYPSC Training Seminar - 12th April 2017 ‘Outcomes Based Planning & Measuring Outcomes’

Facilitated by Peter Walker HSE & Paddy Austen NUIG

Donegal Children & Young People’s Services Committee (CYPSC) and Subcommittees are currently engaging in a planning process for the new Children & Young People’s Plan (CYPP) 2017 – 2020. This Seminar supported our valued CYPSC Members with the planning process and ensure that everyone would approach the development of this new Children & Young People’s Plan in the same way. 34 Donegal CYPSC members attended

The Donegal Parent Hub

The Parent Hub, Donegal was set up in 2013 by the Donegal Children’s Services Committee to look at Parent Support Needs in County Donegal.

Please Click here to view www.parenthubdonegal.ie

Young Carers Project Donegal

‘You are not alone’ Film

This short film was produced by members of the Donegal Youth Council in partnership with Donegal Youth Service to highlight the issue of young carers in Donegal and the new support service now available for young carers in the county. The project was funded by the Carers Association of Ireland. 

Click here to view the full length film. 

To find another CYPSC click here.

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