In an effort to provide more Appropriate Adults for local charity Childline Gibraltar, the team has been ‘training the trainers’. These adults include volunteers who make themselves available at all times to support vulnerable juveniles who have been detained by the police and whose parents or carers are not available.  Appropriate Adults also assist with communication between the detained person and the police. It is important to stress that this service has been very much welcomed by the RGP and HM Customs. The Appropriate Adult role was first introduced under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, the principles of which have been adopted in Gibraltar.

Childline Gibraltar is now a member of the National Appropriate Adult Network which allows it to access the latest information available in UK.  Even the most minor changes in the UK law are immediately notified to Childline Gibraltar as a result of this membership.

The six Childline volunteers who undertook this training last weekend are already experienced Appropriate Adults themselves but, rather than send them to UK to be trained to be trainers, it made more economic sense to bring the trainer, Julia Warman, out from UK. 

Childline has been providing trained Appropriate Adults for several years but, as with all charities, there is always a need to train new people.  It is, perhaps, understandable that with most calls coming late at night or in the early hours that there is a regular need for new, volunteers and, of course, a need to train them to a high standard. 

With all these new trainers, Childline Gibraltar would now welcome enquiries from potential volunteers who could offer this important and valued commitment. Childline Gibraltar can be contacted via email on [email protected] or on (00350) 20043503.