Why Snowdrop exists#
The Snowdrop Project launched in Sheffield in May 2012 because, as it explains, support for survivors after the government's referral system ended barely existed anywhere in the UK. It started with six volunteer caseworkers and eight referrals, added counselling in 2015, expanded to Barnsley in 2020, and since October 2023 has taken referrals from age 16 rather than 18. It campaigned against the old 45-day limit on support for confirmed survivors, which the Home Office withdrew in 2019. The name came from its clients: snowdrops are small, strong flowers that come through the winter.
Its work is long term and local. Caseworkers trained in social work principles help with police investigations, legal cases, housing, benefits, education, work and family life. Counselling uses safe interpreters and on-site childcare, alongside trauma-informed yoga, shiatsu and acupuncture. Community activities run from a toddler group to sewing, dance and cultural celebrations, with travel costs paid for people seeking asylum. Volunteers have also renovated more than a hundred council flats and houses so that survivors move into a home rather than an empty room.
Who it can take on now#
The referral page says that, because of capacity, referrals for adult casework and adult counselling are temporarily suspended. Two routes stay open: community activities, and casework for young people aged 16 to 25 who were trafficked as children and are moving into adult services. That transitions work covers advocacy, legal advice and representation, the criminal justice system, immigration, age assessments, housing, healthcare and education, because support often falls away at 18.
Referrals go through an online form linked from that page; the casework page invites young people to use it for themselves. Snowdrop is not a First Responder, so it cannot refer anyone into the National Referral Mechanism, though it trains people who can. Counselling is only for people living in South Yorkshire.
What its casework says about papers#
Snowdrop publishes nothing on changing a name. Its recovery page is the nearest thing, and it is a frank list: under safety, having no address history or ID; under independent living, getting an income and a bank account, finding safe housing and managing bills; under legal issues, immigration, compensation, criminal investigations and family law. At its weekly drop-in, caseworkers help with things like paperwork for a bank account and reading official letters.
ID first, then perhaps a new name#
Snowdrop's list puts ID, an address and a bank account among the first problems to solve, and a deed poll cannot solve them: it records a change of name and nothing more, and organisations still ask for an identity document beside it. If a new name does become part of the plan, it adds one more paper to keep safe and show alongside the rest.
- Is a deed poll proof of identity?: what it can and cannot stand in for.
- What documents do I need to change my name?: none to make the deed, and what you need to use it.
- Banks and a new name: where a bank also expects ID showing the new name.
This page describes what The Snowdrop Project publishes on its own website, read on 26 October 2026. Snowdrop has not reviewed it, and listing a charity here does not mean it recommends this handbook or any deed poll service.
