My Rights

• You will have relationship that are ‘private’: with your family and friends and with other adults, and relationships where the other person is involved in providing you with a public service
• Your rights are there to protect you if you are abused or hurt in a private relationship
• Your rights put extra duties on people involved in public services like the police and social workers, to support you if you need help

Even though you might not think of it this way, you have relationships with lots of people. Each relationship is different. You have relationships with

• Your parents, step parents and grandparents
• Your brothers and sisters, step-brothers and sisters
• Other family members
• Your friends
• Other children you meet
• Adults involved in public services like teachers, doctors and youth workers
• Adults who you meet because they are friends or for some other reason.

In law, some relationships are ‘private’, for example the relationships you have with your family and friends. You, your family and friends are free to manage your relationships in the way that you choose, as long as no one – including you - is being treated badly in one of those relationships.

The law gives public bodies, such as the police and social services, a duty to help you if you are being treated inappropriately in a private relationship. The government has a duty to make sure there are procedures in place to protect you.

In 'public' relationships, where someone is responsible for a service you receive from the government or another organisation, the law sets out how these people should behave towards you.