Legal
Many care leavers leave orphanages without birth certificates.
Legal
Law and Order
Although not the most obvious part of our work, in 2022 we have continued to provide significant legal support to care leavers. Many leave orphanages without birth certificates or other essential paperwork and court applications are required to produce ‘probable’ birth certificates. Others remain subject to court orders, often made without their knowledge, which have put them in the nominal care of siblings or other adults. These orders require a court hearing before they can be discharged.
Some care leavers find themselves caught up in historic criminal complaints arising out of their time in children’s homes. Too often they find themselves to be easy targets for law enforcement agencies and miscarriages of justice are common. Brighter Path provides legal support to young care leavers to ensure that they have access to proper legal advice during these investigations, something which is vitally important but rarely available through the state.
Further Reading

Legal Toolkit
Brighter Path has funded the printing of an Emerge Lanka legal toolkit. Designed by lawyers at iProbono, working with Emerge, this toolkit is written in three language – Sinhala, Tamil …

Training Clothes Donation
Brighter Path provides regular support to the Vishaka Training Centre in Bandarawella. This is a home for young girls in the care system who have been unable to remain in …

Visit from Nadeesha Chathurangani, Commissioner of Probation and Childcare
This week we were delighted to welcome Nadeesha Chathurangani, Commissioner for Probation and Childcare in the Uwa Province. She visited two of our transition homes and the Brighter Path office. …


