Children's rights and advocacy

There is a great deal of legislation relating to provision of advocacy services. The National Standards for the Provision of Children's Advocacy Services underpin the framework within which the service functions.

In Herefordshire, Angie Evers and Claire Harris are the job share partners for the Children's Rights and Advocacy Worker post.

The service can be contacted directly by phone or email, see below for details.

The service offers:

• Information, representation, support and advocacy to looked after children regarding their rights in relation to the Council services they are receiving.
• Access to an independent advocate to enable looked after children including children with disabilities, and those receiving Aftercare services, to make a complaint if they wish to, and support them throughout this process.
• Access to an independent advocate to represent the child or young person's views, or empower them to speak for themselves whether this is in Looked After Child Reviews or within Child Protection Processes.

Rights to advocacy do not extend to a parent or another person making a complaint on behalf of a child. However, information regarding the rights of a child can be sought via this service. It is important that, wherever possible, the child initiates their referral to the service whether this be directly by them or through and adult. Advocacy is a child-led process, which is issue based. The service does not therefore offer long term support.

For initial or review Child Protection Conferences, referrals are automatically made via Planning, Audit and Review for young people age 12 years and over. Once parental consent has been gained the advocate pro actively offers their services to these young people. The aim is to help children and young people have their views listened to and taken seriously.