YOU ARE HERE: Parents and carers – Welcome and introduction to Connexions Birmingham
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What is Connexions Birmingham?
It’s a free and friendly support service providing advice, information and guidance for eligible young people aged from 13 to 19. If a young person has a learning difficulty and/or disability then we can help them until they are 25. We are part of Birmingham City Council and we work alongside other local services.
What can Connexions Birmingham do for my son/daughter?
During their teenage years, young people face some important decisions that can affect their whole future: choosing their Options during Year 9, deciding what to do once they reach school leaving age, how to choose a suitable career path.
We’re here to help them with all of that — to make sure eligible young people always have someone they can turn to for impartial advice, information and guidance.
How does this fit with my role as a Parent/Carer?
We don’t seek to replace the support you can give. We aim to work with you, for example at parents evening in school, to support your son/daughter to make positive choices about their future. As a parent or carer, you have a considerable influence over your son/daughter and they will naturally look to you for advice and guidance. For most young people, their families are the initial source of this help and information, although as children get older they rely on more and varied sources. As a parent or carer, it will help if you understand about the ways in which Connexions tries to help young people, to help them to get the best possible start in life.
How does Connexions Birmingham provide this help to young people?
The Connexions Birmingham service is actually delivered by Personal Advisers (PAs) who work in various Connexions Outreach venues.
What is a Personal Adviser (PA)?
PAs give information, advice and help with all sorts of things relating to learning and careers — choosing courses, looking at training opportunities, thinking about career options, dealing with issues relating to finance. They are highly trained and qualified to work with young people.
Is it a confidential service?
Yes. We gather and process information about young people to ensure that they are provided with the help and support they need.
The information held is confidential and this means we will not pass it on without the consent of the young person in question. Please note that this includes you as a parent or carer — you cannot access our records without the consent of the young person.
The only exception to confidentiality is where we consider the young person is at serious risk of harm.
Where can I find out more about what Connexions Birmingham does?
This Parents and Carers area of our website will help you find out much more, including Parent Guides for:
All that information is also available as individual easily-printable weblets, downloadable from each page. You can also download copies of publications specifically for parents and carers, and publications we produce for young people which enables you to see the information, advice and guidance that we are providing and which your son or daughter may have been given in school/college or picked up at a Connexions venue.
National Careers Service careers advisers
This is a national confidential phone and web-based service. It can get young people in touch with advisers on careers and learning. It’s open between 8am and 10pm every day, so they can get the information they want when they need it.
Phone: 0800 100 900
https://www2.cxdirect.com/home.htm
Page last updated 28 January 2013