Hi, I am one of the young experts for the IJCC Project, which stands for Improving Justice in Child Contact. Our group is based in Scotland and we talk about what it is we have to achieve to get children and young people’s rights at the centre of decisions around contact in families where there has been domestic abuse.

This blog is to explain my thoughts and experiences about it all….

In my opinion I think projects like ours are important because not that many children and young people have a say in their lives, because people think we are too young to know better.

I first got involved in another project called Everyday Heroes which was about gender equality and ending abuse, this project helped me be more confident and not so insecure about myself. Everyday Heroes was a big group of volunteers, victims of abuse and workers who work with children and young people. Being the youngest in the group was scary for me but we did lots of group work and techniques to get to know each other a bit more. This helped me to open up to everyone.

Fast forward two years later and I am part of the IJCC project, as a young expert, we are called Yello! IJCC is different because it has fewer people in the group and some who I hadn’t met before. Although the group had already had a couple of meetings before I joined, my first meeting with them was quite fun. We got to know each other by playing a game of “Getting to know you Bingo”, when we had to find out facts about each other. Then we played Rock, Paper, Scissors with our bodies in teams (our team won!). After some games we got to work, and we decided on our group name and made up logos.

Logo for Yello!, the IJCC young experts

Credit goes to the designers, Ann and Marie, who work for Edinburgh University. We then went on the computers and made a comic strip. This comic is for young people beginning to get involved in other projects and what questions they might have. Then we had pizza and for dessert we went to a café and had lovely ice cream.

Overall I think everything went great and everyone is really kind, willing to listen to your ideas without judging and really caring. Groups like these are so special we should have more of them all over the world.

In my opinion I think projects like ours are important because not that many children and young people have a say in their lives, because people think we are too young to know better. Overall I think everything went great and everyone is really kind, willing to listen to your ideas without judging and really caring. Groups like these are so special we should have more of them all over the world.

In the future I would like the IJCC to try and organise a talk with people who make a difference happen, so eventually everyone can have a say, no matter who you are.

Thank you for reading.

Good luck to Roseanna, we will miss you! (A Scottish Women’s Aid worker who is going to a new job in another country).