Advocacy guide for children, young people and parents

Advocating for yourself means speaking up about the things that are important to you. You might also hear this called ‘self-advocacy’.

This guide has tips and ideas that could help you to learn how you can advocate for yourself. You don't need to try anything that you don't feel comfortable with.

Being able to speak up for yourself is really important. But it's not always easy. For example:

• you might feel like you don't know enough about the processes, your rights and the options available to advocate for yourself
• you might not feel comfortable to voice your opinions and questions on your own

There may be some situations where you feel more comfortable advocating for yourself, and others where you find it more difficult. You can use the advice in this guide:

• on your own
• with the support of family, carers, friends or partners
• with the support of a professional advocate

Young people Mind spoke to described self-advocacy as:

“It's being able to speak up for yourself rather than relying on others – having the confidence to say when you don't think something is right”

“It's about voicing your opinions rather than sitting back and letting professionals make the decisions for you”

“It's about being able to explain what you're feeling and what you're thinking yourself. And being able to work through what you're thinking and feeling about certain decisions”.

Remember: you shouldn't put any pressure on yourself to self-advocate. But if you feel able to, read our tips on how to advocate for yourself and practise some techniques.

Build your confidence and self-esteem

There are lots of things you can do to help you build your confidence and self-esteem, like:

• being kind to yourself
• looking after your wellbeing and physical health
• focusing on the positives
• spending time with people
• learning to assert yourself

Mind have produced the following guidance to help:

• tips on self-esteem for everyone
• confidence and self-esteem for young people
• feelings and experiences for young people
• mental wellbeing for young people

Whilst some of this information was written for young people, it applies to people of any age.  

Prepare for meetings

You can easily forget the things you want to say in appointments and meetings. Being prepared can help you to get the most out of them.

You could:

• write down what you want to say beforehand
• practice what you might say in your head or with someone you trust. This could be a professional advocate, family member, carer, guardian, friend or partner
• bring any information that explains what you want to say
• write a list of questions to take with you
• write down how the meeting or appointment went, and how you felt afterwards

Find information

The type of information you need will depend on your situation and what's going on for you.

Here are some places you can look for information:

• children's social care - Dorset Council
• the Family Rights Group help families better understand their rights and options when children’s services or the family courts make decisions about children’s welfare. Tailored information is available for mothers, fathers, young parents, parents to be and kinship carers
• information about SEND on our SEND Local Offer and from Dorset SENDIASS
• complain about social care or SEND services

Think about what you feel is wrong and how it could be better

Spend some time thinking about what feels wrong and how this is affecting you. Then think about how the situation could be better, or what change you want to see.

You could write this down if you'd find that helpful.

Even if you have a clear idea of what's wrong and how to make it better, you might still find it difficult to make others understand. But try not to feel disheartened by setbacks and keep trying. The other support explained in this guide may also help.

Ask for help

Just because you're advocating for yourself, that doesn't mean you can't get extra support from a professional advocate.

An advocate could help to answer any questions you have around self-advocacy. Or they could support you with situations you find difficult.

You can also get support from family members, carers, friends or partners.

Remember: you're not alone.

An independent advocate can help you express your views and feelings.

They can attend meetings with you, and depending how confident you feel, they can speak on your behalf. There might be some things you feel OK about saying yourself, and other things you’d like them to say for you.

Organisations that provide independent and impartial advocacy

Who needs support	Who provides independent advocacy in Dorset
Advocacy for children and young people	Most advocacy needs in Dorset for children are young people are covered by:   National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS)   Contact NYAS   Read independent advocacy for situations when other organisations provide this service.
Advocacy for parents during child protection proceedings	South West Advocacy Network (SWAN)
Parents with learning disabilities or other parents experiencing difficulties having meetings with Children's Services about their children	Your social worker or other person working with you from Dorset Council can refer you.   Read about child protection processes
Children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)	Dorset SENDIASS provide impartial advice and support to families living in Dorset. SENDIASS’s support includes advocacy if required.   Contact SENDIASS
Parents and carers of children and young people with SEND

NYAS and SWAN’s provide advocacy specifically, whilst SENDIASS provide a wider service. When advocating for you, these organisations represent your views, wishes and interests. They only share your thoughts and feelings with Children’s Services if you give your consent to this. The only situation where they do not have to have your consent is if they believe that a child or vulnerable adult is at risk of significant harm.

 

A family member, carers, friend or partner could help you share your views, wishes and feelings. You’ll want to choose someone you trust who understands that everything you tell them is confidential. They will be able to offer you the best help if you can give them a full picture of what has happened. You could plan for meetings together with this person, telling them which parts of the meeting you are most concerned about, so that they can support you at these points if needs be.

There might already be a professional in your life that knows you and your situation well, that you’d like to advocate for you. You’d need to ask them if that’s OK. For example, this could be a teacher, your family worker, or a Quality Assurance Reviewing Officer (QARO). They can explain how the meeting will work to you but remember that they are not independent. They may hold views that are different from yours.

The guidance in the ‘advocate for yourself’ section on this page may be useful to share with the person you have asked to support you.