Time to listen: Independent advocacy services in the child protection process

The horrific abuse and organised exploitation of young women and girls in Oxford has once again raised questions about how agencies work to keep vulnerable children safe. As was highlighted in the safeguarding failures in recent cases in Rochdale and Edlington, a central concern is the extent to which services are putting children’s experiences and voices at the heart of child protection.

In order to effectively protect our children, it is vital that their voices are heard. Listening to children now features strongly within legislation for looked after children. However, evidence from serious case reviews has consistently shown that the child’s voice is often not heard and effectively represented in child protection cases.

A new report from the National Children’s Bureau reviews evidence on the role of independent advocacy within initial and review child protection conferences, whereby children are supported by skilled independent practitioners to express their views and talk about their experiences. The report finds that supporting a child to attend their child protection conference, or having an advocate present on their behalf, can empower children to express their views. As one child explained, without the support of an advocacy service during the child protection process:

“They don’t know what I would have said or what I think, and they wouldn’t have any of my views, and they wouldn’t really know my decisions.”

Providing children with an advocate does not do away with the need for social workers to engage children in discussions about their thoughts and feelings; however it can provide another distinctive way for children to be heard. It helps ensure that the child remains everyone’s focus within the child protection conference, providing parents and professionals with a shared point of interest.

Current legislation (Children Act 1989) places a duty on local authorities to ascertain a child’s wishes and feelings and give them due consideration when making decisions during the child protection process. However, there is no specific statutory right to advocacy services, which are currently provided at the discretion of local authorities.

Guidance for obtaining a child’s wishes is provided by the Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance, which was revised this year. The new version of the guidance gives less prominence to the involvement of children within the child protection process. In particular, there is no longer a presumption that the child, subject to age and understanding, should be invited to attend their conference with an advocate if they wish to do so.

Whilst these changes can be seen as an attempt to ensure local practitioners have flexibility in determining how they provide services to children, this must be based on retention of a strong legislative framework setting out what children should receive. With regards to advocacy within the child protection process, there is no strong legislative framework. This, coupled with less prescriptive guidance, creates a high risk that professionals and managers will be left with no resources to help them understand the need for advocacy.

A clear legislative framework needs to be introduced by government to ensure that all children are supported by an independent advocate in initial and review child protection conferences, unless they choose otherwise.

If we are to learn the lessons from serious case reviews and recent high-profile cases it is vital that there is a clear right to advocacy in the child protection process so that all children are given the opportunity for their voices to be heard. This will ensure they are effectively included in child protection work and that information about their lives and the impact of any problems they are facing is always taken into account.

Enver Solomon is director of evidence and impact at the National Children’s Bureau