YLAL writes for Legal Voice

YLAL’s vice-chair Siobhan Taylor-Ward writes for YLAL’s series in Legal Voice; This (young legal aid) life. 

“I have been asked by the Home office to provide the client with the decision as she has been referred for safeguarding. I break the news that her claim has been refused. Her face crumples in tears. The baby in the pram beside her knows enough to place her tiny hand upon her mum’s knee.

“She tells me her baby died in Africa — it was cot death — her claim stems from this one incident and its repercussions.

“I go through the refusal letter paragraph by paragraph. So many of the points raised by the decision maker are wrong or misinterpreted. I have to explain to my client that the Home Office do not believe that she ever had a baby or that it died. I pause knowing what a blow that must be. She cries again.”

http://www.legalvoice.org.uk/young-legal-aid-life-siobhan-taylor-ward/