http://www.crin.org/docs/advocacy_ioe.pdf

Advocacy for children and young people has emerged as a key policy issue in recent years. Advocacy aims to support children to have a voice in decision-making, and to protect their rights. Children’s advocacy has been largely targeted at children in public care, and those considered in need, including disabled children. Yet, relatively little is known about the impact of advocacy on individual children or on children’s services more generally.

Evidence also suggests that there is a need to raise awareness about the principles and practices of advocacy among a wide range of professionals and policy makers working in the field of children’s health and social care.

This conference will launch the findings of Advocacy for children and young people: achievements and challenges, the first national study of advocacy for children and young people in England, funded by the Department of Health. The conference will also showcase other recent research on children’s advocacy to promote discussion about what works in children’s advocacy and to stimulate debate about the future direction for children’s advocacy.

A number of key questions will be addressed: What does advocacy look like in practice and what are the challenges involved? Can advocacy make a positive difference to children and young people? Can advocacy encourage children’s services to be more accountable to their young service users? What are children’s perspectives of advocacy?

Topics covered will include: