The National Youth Advocacy Service

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Keith Brettwood

Mar 26, 2026 · Donor Trustpilot

★★★★★

Nyas failed to help our 8yr old Son in Council Care. when we asked them to have him referred to Nyas so he could express his true wishes and feelings about his family they contacted the Council but the social worker declined stating "I'm not comfortable with that idea" with no explanation why. we asked NYAS to take the matter further and they agreed. weeks went by and nothing happened. we contacted her boss and he confirmed that they were looking into it. weeks later we contacted him again and he seemed less helpfull then he told us not to contact the NYAS worker direct anymore. they then stopped answering our emails.it transpired they had been contracted to the council in July 2014. 4 months before our Son went into care yet the council never told us about NYAS while we were repeatedly asking them to get help for our Son. It would appear NYAS did not push the issue of the blocked referral for fear of losing their council contract. this makes them guilty of allowing our Son to be mentally harmed by the council and not reporting it to the Police.

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Shelley

Mar 26, 2026 · Donor Trustpilot

★★★★★

Jo Masterton-Francis is an evil corrupt individual who was paid by my ex husband to Report a Change of Residency for my child. This monster must not be allowed to continue destroying families. NYAS WAKE UP TO WHO YOU EMPLOY!!

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Timmi Maxx

Mar 26, 2026 · Donor Trustpilot

★★★★★

NYAS, completely disorganised, not fit for purpose and certainly not child friendly. Arrogant admin staff turn what should be a ‘fun time’ for parents and their children into a very stressful event with Draconian rules. Courts feel NYAS is the best means for having supervised contact and are blissfully unaware that the service is slipshod and inadequate. Untrained contact facilitators are unreliable and a law onto themselves and the turnover means too often that your child has a stranger to contend with.

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dani keith

Mar 26, 2026 · Donor Trustpilot

★★★★★

Would give zero stars if was possible! Disgusting people. Don’t know how Isabel O’Donoghue sleeps at night. Ignored child’s wishes and feelings, lied in general, twisted child’s words and left her distraught, put her in harms way, ignored a 27 page report from social services and concerns from within, turned up on wrong days and was abusive, didn’t complete reports or do anything she was going to in the report. Said she wasn’t bias yet ignored any concerns of child, social services and ourselves and sat laughing a joking in court with the other parent. After all this when Child was forced to go other parents she has had to see 100’s of arguments, been in a car with dangerous driving, not washed once before school, made to wear clothes that don’t fit, left in the care of unsuitable carers n so much more also lead to the child having to have counselling. In her own words “no one helped me”. I’m sure this was all in the best interest of an 7 year old child. Well done Isabel!! Nyas are an absolute disgrace. Maybe in future Nyas should make sure their social workers have better training, behave professionally and actually LISTEN to the children’s wishes and feelings that they promote themselves on doing so much.

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Mr Christopher Miller

Mar 26, 2026 · Donor Trustpilot

★★★★★

This charity really does not care about children. They have failed my son badly. He has not seen his sister for over a year and they simply could not be bothered to advocate on his behalf. They simply engage in amicable complisity with the local authorty. My son does have rights under Article 8 and they have failed to advise him of them or put them in an argued case to the local authorty. It is simply a disgraceful organisation with no compassion for the children they claim to represent.

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Giles Robertson

Mar 26, 2026 · Donor Trustpilot

★★★★★

In March 2020 I was told I owed NYAS almost £300. I felt emotionally blackmailed. I paid the money simply to see my children and they still refused. By September I raised complaints with NYAS & Charity Funding Regulator. In the end I raised a chargeback with my bank as a fraud transaction. I have since been advised I was actually £95 in credit! This was a funding dispute with CAFCASS passed on to me.I have not seen my children for a year since being referred to NYAS by CAFCASS. A toxic organisation.This "charity" will churn as much money as they can out of the situation. They are not regulated and have a deficient complaints procedure. Note: Record everything My 3 year old son arrived with a head injury which was not recorded by the organisation despite 2 members of staff seeing the injury.

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Jacqui Freedom

Mar 26, 2026 · Donor Trustpilot

★★★★★

Will start off by saying that the end result at court was positive and in the best interests of the children, so this is not a bitter recrimination from a parent who disagrees with the court’s decision, it is however an opportunity to highlight a terrifying precedent being set in the family courts - NYAS is a disingenuous and shockingly bad advocacy service with no recourse of accountability and an inflated sense of power in the family courts. The caseworkers include racist social workers (not thrown around lightly- this was upon first meeting) they are biased against victims of domestic violence “He has demons from his past but it’s irrelevant now, you need to get over it and think about how he feels” and are selective with clinical information to reinforce their narrow opinions, such as omitting clinical diagnosis of trauma in children caused by being abused themselves and also witnessing violence upon other family members. If a child or children have not had access to both parents (which should generally be the case as warring parents ultimately only hurt the children & kids should have access to both parents who love them) but on occasion and especially when there have been previous and lengthy Court Findings which prohibited all types of contact (not an easy judgement and took years & years of proceedings to obtain) to protect the children, then the responsibility falls on the court to ensure the children’s health and well being is supported whilst the applicant proves the previous findings should be overturned. The passage of time between proceedings should in no way negate the first judgement, especially when it took years and mounds of disclosure to achieve.However, **if you are the Resident Parent and children have had no contact with their other parent, then the assumption will be that you are guilty of parental alienation and you are at fault** no matter the reasons for previous findings, no matter the medical histories and contemporary therapeutic needs

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Chelle

Mar 26, 2026 · Donor Trustpilot

★★★★★

Jo M Francis is an evil perpetrator who preys on vulnerable children. Please beware and record everything like I did!! This individual lied with fake change of residency reports which almost destroyed my family. She did her best to isolate me from support. Telling me that I should commit suicide!!! This entity should be struck off and never allowed into the court arena again!! SHE NEEDS PROCESSIONAL HELP with her narcissistic personality disorder.

CA

caffers

Mar 26, 2026 · Donor Trustpilot

★★★★★

NYAS is simply not fit for purpose, are not accountable to anybody, have a high opinion of themselves and simply lie. Paul Pennington Wilson writes an inflated CV which if you dig, is highly inflated. He told me he would read all case notes and would become an expert on my children. He did neither and attempted to draw the process out as long as possible to secure income. Eventually the Judge refused to listen to him or his recommendations. This review is from an individual who has full custody of their children so is not a bitter response. Document everything and record every single conversation, you will need to.

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Bob McGivern

Mar 26, 2026 · Donor Trustpilot

★★★★★

I wish that I had read the advice before to record everything. NYAS are knowingly flawed and weak. In my case they have attempted to cover the appalling work of Cathy Pilkington. There can be no denial and the sooner the MoJ prevent this organisation from bidding for any government contracts the better.