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Once a fortnight a volunteer caseworker from our Croydon office attends the West Hill Children’s Centre for appointments with parents, carers and other individuals seeking legal advice.

The West Hill Children’s Centre, based in Wandsworth is available for all parents and carers of children under the age of five; however the centre does occasionally make exceptions. The centre offers a range of services for children and their carers living in the local area. As part of Duncan Lewis’ links to the Children Centre, should a parent or carer be in need of legal advice they are welcome to book an appointment with us on the second or fourth Monday of each month.

The legal advice provided during these appointments can include – but is not limited to - childcare and family matters, housing matters and immigration matters. In order to fully assist all who make an appointment, any time a caseworker is unable to advise their client, the client’s details are shared with the appropriate department to follow up the referral as soon as possible.

As part of our pro bono commitments, volunteers from the childcare and family department at Duncan Lewis Solicitors in Croydon were invited to attend an information and advice drop-in held at the Enhanced Children’s Centre at West Hill on 22 May 2018 to speak to members of the public about the work we do.

The aim of the event was to offer information and advice to parents and carers in the following areas; finance and benefits; leisure activities; legal advice; parent wellbeing; health; being a carer and education. The event ran from 10am-2pm and our Caseworkers Lillie Stubbs and Ola Hanna attended the event, providing legal advice and information about our services.

This was the first ever drop-in held by this particular Children’s centre and we were able to speak with a number of people, from different organisations, who had dropped in to discuss particular issues concerning people who may require legal advice and others who were simply curious about how they could refer clients to us and advise them in the future.

One of the key aspects of the day was explaining the services that we offer and encouraging people to use Duncan Lewis as their first port of call when seeking particular and detailed legal advice or information, highlighting the fact that we are the largest Legal Aid provider.

Duncan Lewis Solicitors were joined by other organisations at the event, including; ‘Contact’ – for families with disabled children – ‘Disability Sports Coach’ and ‘The Wand Card’. The interest from these other organisations was encouraging, in addition to assisting parents and carers we were able to develop a rapport and offer our services to these organisations that were eager to learn about Duncan Lewis’ work.

This event highlights how important it is to volunteer our legal services to the wider public. Lillie and Ola thoroughly enjoyed attending the open day and felt privileged to be in a position to provide legal advice and further information to not only those in need, but also to members of other organisations working in different areas, sharing the same aim – to provide support and advice to all those in need.

Contact Lillie and Ola on:

LillieS@duncanlewis.com or 020 7014 7331

OlaH@duncanlewis.com or 020 7014 7324

Duncan Lewis Child Care Solicitors

The Duncan Lewis Child Care team have a wealth of experience in dealing with a range of Family and Child Care matters. The Duncan Lewis Child Care Law department includes members of the Law Society Children and Family Panel Members. We have a number of Children Panel members, as well as solicitor advocates, therefore, we have the ability to provide advocacy at all levels of Court to ensure a consistent and professional service. Our solicitors understand the sensitive nature of Family proceedings, especially when children are concerned. Whether it is divorce, dissolution of civil partnership, financial provision, matters concerning children, Non Molestation Injunctions, or any other family matter, we offer detailed and effective advice. The firm is also one of only two Family departments in the UK contracted with the Legal Aid Agency to provide publicly funded remote advice and assistance to family clients across UK using non face-to-face adaptations including web conferencing, Braille, British Sign Language and Easy read.

For expert legal advice on Family and Child Care matters, call Duncan Lewis Solicitors on 0333 772 0409.