Advocacy services for children and young people in Wales

Response from The Fostering Network Wales

The Fostering Network Wales welcomes the recognition of the need to ensure advocacy services for vulnerable children are essential and should be formalised.

Q 1 Wales should provide a high quality service of a national standard delivered according to local need building on existing networks and partnerships. So national standards with measurable outcomes enshrined in legislation that are inspected against should be set and local partnerships determine what will work best for the population they serve.

Basing any service around school service will exclude those children who do not engage in the education system.

Consideration must be given to those people who currently undertake an advocacy role without a formal title such as foster carers. They must be seen as part of a team who works for the childs best interest. Their part in advocacy must be recognised as any parent, there seems to be an assumption in this consultation that advocacy can only be undertaken by professionals. Many parents/ carers are effective advocates for the children and young people they care for and their role in this must not be ignored or lost.

Q 2 (i) No

Q3 (i) The committee needs to ask young people what would give them confidence in a service.

The committee could visit some school councils, youth groups, sons and daughters foster family groups, looked after children/young people groups or The Fostering Network Wales could arrange for some of the committee to meet children/young people who we are in contact with.

Q3 (ii) Whilst recognising the need to assist agencies to establish their systems to provide advocacy, the use of existing bodies should be utilised. Where there are recognised improvement agencies as in Local Authorities and National Health Service the role of support unit should fall to them, building on the expertise, partnerships and systems that already exists.

A Children’s Advocacy unit should:

Support compliance with standards to ensure standard practice across Wales
Set core elements for commissioning
Share good practice,
Provide support for establishing networks