A series of videos designed to raise awareness of a free legal
service for child victims of serious sexual offences have been
released by the Department of Justice.
The Children's Sexual Offences Legal Adviser (CSOLA) scheme,
delivered by Victim Support NI, is available to children and
young people aged 17 and under who have experienced sexual crime,
as well as to their parents/carers.
Service users can access free, independent legal advice until the
start of a trial.
Justice Minister , who extended the scheme to
children earlier this year, said: “Our goal is to
make legal advice accessible for children and their families and
whilst the scheme has only been in place for a matter of months,
the feedback from service users has been very
encouraging.
“One key benefit of the CSOLA scheme is that free advice
on the criminal justice system is available prior to any offence
being reported, which will help victims make informed decisions
and may make it easier to contact police.”
Under the Victims and Witnesses of Crime Bill, the Minister plans
to introduce further legislative measures to enhance the legal
advice available to child and adult victims of serious sexual
crimes.
“The Victims and Witnesses of Crime Bill, which I hope to
bring to the Assembly in 2026, will focus on a small number of
high impact measures for victims and witnesses of
crime,” she continued.
“Provisions include enabling legal representatives for
complainants in serious sexual offence cases to provide in-court
representation during specified pre-trial hearings which would be
facilitated by extending the role of the SOLAs.
“Research indicates that many victims either do not
report or withdraw from proceedings due to fear that private
records, such as medical and counselling, will be disclosed in
court; or they delay therapy until after any proceedings have
concluded."
“The Victims and Witnesses of Crime Bill will also
include reforms to the third-party disclosure application process
to help protect Article 8 rights, balance the interests of all
parties, safeguard privacy, and reduce
re-traumatisation.”
Victim Support NI Jolena Flett, Head of Advocacy and New Projects
said: We welcome this new service as we have seen how effective
the support for adults is through the current SOLA service.
Since launching the CSOLA service we have supported 275 children
and young people, and their guardians, across Northern Ireland
through a difficult process.
Embedding the services within Victim Support NI means we are not
only able to help with the legal aspects but also provide trauma
informed wrap-around support for all their needs. We also welcome
the Department's ongoing commitment to providing this innovative
and much needed service.”
The videos will be available on our website, X, Instagram and our
youtube channel.
Notes to editors:
- This CSOLA scheme has been specifically designed to meet the
needs of child complainants in serious sexual offence cases and
is set to run for an initial two-year pilot phase. The new
children's service will run in tandem with the adult SOLA service
until March 2027, when both pilots will be evaluated to inform
the development and procurement of mainstream services.
- Emma Rose Duffy has experience volunteering with the NSPCC
Young Witness Service and obtained a master's degree in
Children's Rights, before qualifying as a solicitor in 2019.
Working with the Children's Law Centre, she promoted the rights
of young people in the legal system, with a particular focus on
mental health, prior to taking up the CSOLA role.
- The full video is available to watch on our Youtube channel
at or alternatively on our Vimeo Channel.
