Scottish Government

Chris Creegan and Gillian Henderson, Scottish Children's Reporter Administration and Caroline King, Save the Children

ISBN 0 7559 2921 7(Web only publication)

This document is also available in pdf format (152k)

Introduction

The research was commissioned as part of the Scottish Executive's review of the Children's Hearings System 'Getting it Right for Every Child'. This review seeks to improve the protection of children's rights including the extent to which children and young people can express their views in decisions made about them.

The research study explored:

• how advocacy for children in the Children's Hearings System compares with arrangements in other systems of child welfare and youth justice
• what children and young people and the professionals who work with them think about advocacy arrangements in the Children's Hearings System and how these can be improved.

A broad definition of advocacy was developed at the outset of the study to cover the different ways of helping children and young people understand, communicate and participate effectively in Hearings and in important decisions which affect their lives.

This was a joint research project between the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration, Save the Children and Who Cares? Scotland.

Main Findings

The first part of this study was a literature review. It found that the provisions in the Scottish Children's Hearings System for young people's participation are as good and sometimes better than proceedings in other countries. However, it was also shown that there are limitations in the Children's Hearings System and barriers to children's participation.

The research went on to explore this further through interviews with children and young people and the adults who work with them. The main findings are:

• While there is an implicit commitment to providing advocacy for children and young people in the Children's Hearings System, the extent to which this commitment is made explicit varies considerably.
• Children and young people may have had varied experiences, both positive and negative, over time which impact on the extent to which they are able to participate in their Hearings.
• Children and young people's needs and wishes change both at different stages of the Hearings process and over time.
• Children and young people have a range of expectations and aspirations in relation to advocacy support and who they believe may be best able to provide it.
• Advocacy support is multi-faceted and for many children and young people it is unlikely to be derived from a single source.
• Providing advocacy support should be seen as a process involving a combination of people who assume different roles and perform a range of tasks rather than a role which can be invested in one dedicated professional.
• An overriding issue is the need for advocacy support to be provided by people who children and young people know and trust.
• There is an important balance to be struck between advocacy support which is provided in the context of known and trusted relationships and advocacy support which involves an appropriate degree of independence.
• The extent to which children and young people are able to make choices in relation to their needs and wishes varies.
• Advocacy relationships are not homogenous and involve a range of skills and tasks that need to be discussed and reviewed with children and young people, recognising that their expectations and needs will depend on a variety of factors.
• At different stages of the process and over time advocacy relationships may be formed with dedicated advocates, other adult professionals including social workers and parents/other/relatives/carers.
• Advocacy and participation need to be seen as two sides of the same coin. Enabling participation also depends on other adults involved in the process, particularly panel members.

Policy and practice implications

• There is the need to achieve a balance between a common approach to the provision of advocacy support in the Hearings System and a personalised approach which is responsive to the needs and wishes of individual children and young people at each stage of the Hearings process.
• The needs and wishes of children and young people could be met by devising a common advocacy standard that enables all agencies involved in working with children and young people in the Hearings System to have a shared understanding of advocacy and its relationship to effective participation in Children's Hearings.
• In order to ensure that those needs and wishes are met a personal advocacy plan could be drawn up with each child or young person and reviewed at each stage of the Hearings process.
• There is an important distinction to be made between ensuring that needs and wishes are met and the provision of advocacy support itself. These responsibilities do not necessarily need to be performed by the same agency or adult professional.
• Because the provision of effective advocacy support will involve a range of people and agencies, the provision of advice and information needs to be reviewed and considered including: advice to parents, other relatives and carers; information for professionals and panel members; and accessible information for children and young people.
• Changed behaviour on the part of adults involved in the Hearings System can make a significant contribution to enhanced advocacy and participation by children and young people. In order to facilitate this, training needs to be reviewed and considered including training for professionals in delivering advocacy support and training for panel members in enabling participation.
• While advocacy support may best be provided by a combination of those already involved in supporting and working with children and young people (including independent advocates), there will be occasions where a gap in provision needs to be met by working with a particular professional or by providing an independent advocate. Where the latter is the case consideration needs to be given to how this would best be provided and funded.

About this study

Aims

• What are children and young people's experiences of advocacy in the Children's Hearings System?
• How do children and young people involved in the Children's Hearings System think that advocacy arrangements could be improved?
• How do adult's accounts of children and young people's experiences of advocacy and their views about how advocacy arrangements could be improved differ from those of children and young people?

Methods

Twenty nine children and young people were interviewed face to face in their own homes or where they were being looked after:

• Ages ranged from five to eighteen years at the time of the interviews
• Nine were aged below 12 years old
• Twenty one were from an urban area and eight were from a rural area
• Seventeen were boys and twelve were girls

The research sample was designed to elicit views from a range of children and young people who had recently attended Children's Hearings. Sample design aimed to reflect the diversity of children and young people attending Children's Hearings in terms of gender, age, residence type (e.g. at home with parents or residential accommodation) and whether they lived in an urban or rural area. Glasgow was the urban area used in this research and Argyll the rural area.

Children and young people were selected by SCRA from its Referrals Administration Database ( RAD). All children and young people aged five and over attending Hearings in the two areas during May and June 2005 were selected for recruitment. These children and young people and their parents/carers were approached prior to their Hearings in SCRA's Glasgow and Argyll Hearings Centres and asked if they would take part in the project.

Informed consent was obtained by direct approach to children and young people (regardless of age) and their parent/relevant persons or carers in the Hearings Centres immediately prior to their Hearings.

Each child and young person who took part in the research was asked to nominate an adult professional who they had worked with who would be asked to take part in a telephone interview. The adults nominated included social workers, key workers from residential care including children's units and secure units, teachers, counsellors, youth workers, children's rights workers and carers. Not all of those nominated were available for interview and 13 adults were interviewed (one of whom was nominated by three young people).

A series of activities and props were developed to aid the conduct of the interviews. These were developed by the research team and tested with young people from Who Cares? Scotland. The data collected from interviews was analysed using the Framework method of qualitative data analysis developed by the National Centre for Social Research.

The research was carried out between May and November 2005.

If you have any enquiries about Research Findings please contact:

Tel: 0131 244-0316
Fax: 0131 244-5581
Email: recs.admin@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Website: www.scotland.gov.uk/insight

On-line copies

This Research Findings along with a web only full report which accompanies the summary report can also be downloaded from the Publications section of The Scottish Executive website www.scotland.gov.uk.

Other Research Findings and Reports and information about social research in other departments of the Scottish Executive may be viewed on the Internet at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/socialresearch

The site carries up-to-date information about social and policy research commissioned and published on behalf of the Scottish Executive. Subjects covered include transport, housing, social inclusion, rural affairs, children and young people, education, social work, community care, local government, civil justice, crime and criminal justice, regeneration, planning and women's issues. The site also allows access to information about the Scottish Household Survey.