Ombudsman for Chrildrens Office (www.oco.ie) 2009/2010
About the project.
The Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO) is an independent statutory body. Its overall mandate is to promote the rights and welfare of children up to the age of 18, without prejudice.
In 2009/2010, the OCO did a consultation with young people under 18 detained in St. Patrick’s Institution, a closed, medium security prison in Dublin for 16 to 21 year olds. Undertaken in accordance with section 7 of the Ombudsman for Children Act, 2002, the overall aim of this consultation was to hear from young people about their experiences of and perspectives on life and different aspects of the regime in the Institution.

Drawing was one of two methods used to facilitate participating young people to express their views. Shane Sutton was involved in supporting the young people to engage with a variety of relevant topics through drawing. These drawings subsequently formed the basis for a short animation.

Y.A.P - Youth Advocate Programe (www.yapireland.ie)
This project is a youth-led participatory research project with a group of girls, some who have had contact with the youth justice system and some who have not had contact. The main research question is to understand the experiences, perspectives and priority issues for young people in contact with the youth justice system and their peers on youth justice, law, policy, practice and community-based social integration. The research was conducted through a creative arts process in two phases. Phase 1 involved the group identifying the main issues and priorities and in phase 2, the group decided to make a short documentary expressing their views through animations and interviews.

The project was developed by Dr. Angela Veale, Department of Applied Psychology, University College Cork and Dr. Ursula Kilkelly, Senior Lecturer, Department of Law in University College Cork and is being undertaken in partnership with Youth Advocate Programme, Ireland (YAP, Ireland) which provides a one-on-one youth work service for at risk young people in north county Dublin. The research project was funded by the Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS).

The Base Ballyfermot: (www.thebase.ie) ( various courses, 2005, 2006 & 2007)
The Base Ballyfermot Youth Centre and Childcare Facility was established to work with the most disadvantaged children and young people living in Ballyfermot. The Base is working towards rebuilding the lives of children and young people affected by drugs, alcohol, early school leaving, poor education, emotional and psychological problems, economic difficulties, crime, anti-social behaviour and other impacts of disadvantage.