BLACK MENTORING SCHEME

The Black Mentoring Scheme began as a joint project between Liverpool City Council’s Positive Action Training Programme and the National Probation Service, Merseyside. In recognition of the high proportion of black people in the Criminal Justice System, its aim is to help black offenders successfully complete their court orders, while giving them the practical and emotional support necessary to entable them to progress into the world of work, further education or training. After an extremely successful pilot, which began in September 2002, the scheme is now mainstream and run solely by the Merseyside Probation Trust.

In March 2007, the team were presented with a prestigious Butler Trust Award by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal at Buckingham Palace.

In March 2005 the scheme won the Innovation category in the annual Diversity Awards in London. This was the second award for the project, which had already beaten off tough competition from around the globe to win an award at the international Probation Conference in 2004.

Lily’s Story

Lily was an urgent referral to the Black Mentoring Scheme. From the Ivory Coast, she had been sentenced to a 6 month Supervision Order for her first offence. Lily was an asylum-seeker, and as her claim for indefinite leave had been refused, she was liable to be detained and returned to her Country at any time.

Lily was also a single parent, with three children, aged 18, 8 and 6 months. She had been living in Liverpool for less than a year and was extremely isolated, with her probation/mentor appointment being her only other social contact. Lily also had sickle cell anaemia and found it difficult coping with her young baby.

Lily was anxious about her immigration status, so her mentor helped arrange an appointment with the Immigration Advisory Service (IAS) for advice. She was also experiencing difficulties with the French Embassy concerning passports for her children. Her mentor helped her liaise with the Embassy and put in an application.

As part of Lily’s action plan, the mentors agreed to look at support networks for her free time during the day. She was introduced to Asylum Link, and a mother and toddler group for asylum seekers and refugees. She made many new friends there, including people from her home town on the Ivory Coast. She attends weekly, and they share their experiences, discuss health issues and receive clothing for the children.

Lily’s mentor was also been able to support her in dealing with emergencies. Due to an error in her IND card, Lily was left without money or food for her children. Arrangements were made with NASS for emergency tokens to be sent out, but this took three days. In the meantime probation staff helped her get emergency money and food parcels. Baby milk and nappies were also located from community agencies.”

The Black Mentoring Project has been enormously successful in supporting black and minority ethnic offenders through the criminal justice system, and the two awards are testimony to the dedication and hard work of the two mentors who work on the scheme.