Children's Advocacy and Independent Visitors

Advocacy is about representing the views, wishes and needs of children and young people to professionals making decisions about their lives, and helping them to navigate the system, especially in times of transition. Advocacy services provide independent and confidential information, advice, representation, support and advocacy for eligible children and young people. High quality advocacy is an important preventative measure to ensure practical problems do not escalate, that children and young people are protected from harm or risk of harm to their wellbeing and to ensure that potential system level failures are identified and tackled at the earliest opportunity.

Independent Visitors are trained volunteers who can step in to support children within the context of National reforms including FFP and provide a stable adult relationship outside of their care arrangement. They can visit them where they live and be a friend and mentor as they grow up. This specification for this service will be based on the National Standards for the Provision of Children and Young People's Advocacy Services 2023.

Addition:

Parental Advocacy

Parental advocacy is an independent support service. It helps parents navigate complex children's social care and child protection systems. Advocates are often peer supporters i.e. parents/family members who have had previous experience of children's social care.

Advocates can:

Explain the Child Protection process

Help parents understand their rights

Help parents communicate with professionals involved for example social workers

Help to ensure that parents wishes, feelings and views are heard.

Help parents understand information given to them about their child or children

Support parents to find and understand information so they can use it to make choices

Help parents prepare for meetings with professionals

Go to Child Protection Conferences and Core Group Meetings with parents

Provide information about how to make a complaint about Social Care to parents

Oldham are exploring this as part of our Families First Partnership Programme.