“They seem to listen more now I have an advocate”: a study into the implementation of parental advocacy in Wales
| Date | 17 April 2024 |
| Pages | 89-104 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JCS-05-2023-0027 |
| Published date | 17 April 2024 |
| Author | Lilly Evans,Samantha Fitz-Symonds,Fiona Long,Louise Roberts,Clive Diaz,Shane Powell |
“They seem to listen more now I have an
advocate”: a study into the implementation
of parental advocacy in Wales
Lilly Evans, Samantha Fitz-Symonds, Fiona Long, Louise Roberts, Clive Diaz and
Shane Powell
Abstract
Purpose –Parental advocacy is anemerging area of research and policy interest inWales and across
the UK. Althoughthere is little research in the UK context to date, internationalresearch has indicated that
parental advocacy can improve the relationship between parent and professional in the field of child
protection social work. This paper aims to ascertain how the implementation of a parental advocacy
programme supports parentsto play a meaningful role in decision-making when children’s servicesare
workingwith them and their families.
Design/methodology/approach –This study used interviews, surveys and focus groups to obtain
qualitative data from 18 parents, seven parent advocates, two advocacy managers and four social
workers, to explore the potentialimpact of parental advocacy on decision-making. The study identified
challenges in implementing parental advocacy, particularly relating to awareness of the service.
Participants also discussedexperiences of the child protection system and how parents are supported
by advocates.
Findings –Despite challenges surrounding implementation, initial findings were encouraging, and
generated examples of how parentaladvocacy services have helped parents to understand children’s
servicesand develop relationships of trust with socialcare professionals. In doing so, this study identified
potentialmechanisms that may be useful to supportfuture service delivery.
Originality/value –This paper and research is novelas it explores parental advocacy within the Welsh
context.Although there has been research conducted intoparental advocacy, this has largely come from
the USA. This research comes from the evaluation of an innovative and promising parental advocacy
schemein Wales.
Keywords Parental advocacy, User participation, Child services, Child protection
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Research has consistently highlighted parents’ experiences of distrust and poor
relationships with social workers (Diaz, 2020;Featherstone et al., 2018a,2018b;Gibson,
2017). Parents purportedly found key child welfare meetings such as child protection
conferences (CPCs) to be particularly challenging, as they felt unable to participate in
decisions about their lives, which left them feeling marginalised and disempowered (Diaz,
2020). In turn, this impacted their willingness to seek help from social workers, and to
accept help when it is offered.
Engagement of, and partnership with parents has long been recognised as a crucial
component of social work, enshrined in law andpolicy, and identified as an effective way of
helping children and families (Horwitz and Marshall, 2015;Sankaran et al.,2015). Cohen
and Canan (2006) suggested that engagement is an important element of any service
Lilly Evans, Samantha
Fitz-Symonds, Fiona Long,
Louise Roberts, Clive Diaz
and Shane Powell are all
based at the CASCADE,
Cardiff University, Cardiff,
UK.
Received 9 May 2023
Revised 13 October 2023
Accepted 4 March 2024
This work was supported by
Health and Care Research
Wales.
The authors thank the Local
Authorities and charities
involved for taking part in this
study and all the parents and
professionals who were
interviewed and took part in the
focus groups.
Funding: This research is
funded by Health and Care
Research Wales (HCRW),
project number SCG 21 1844.
The authors thank the Local
Authorities and charities
involved for taking part in this
study and all the parents and
professionals who were
interviewed and took part in the
focus groups.
DOI 10.1108/JCS-05-2023-0027 VOL. 19 NO. 2 2024, pp. 89-104, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1746-6660 jJOURNAL OF CHILDREN’S SERVICES jPAGE 89
provision, because without this, the service could not fulfil one of its key tasks: to help
families function better, and when possible, safely keep children with their parents.
Research has shown that failure to engage or comply increases the chances of child
protection proceedings being initiated (Devine, 2017). Thus, engagement has important
legal and ethical components, in addition to the hypothetical claim that it will improve
outcomes.
Among social workers, there has been consensus that parental engagement and
partnership working is valuable(Corby et al.,1996;Darlington et al.,2010). The participants
interviewed by Darlington et al. (2010)all agreed that parents’ participation in complex child
protection social work, including decision-making, was important ethically and was vital to
improving outcomes for children.
While there is currently a paucity of research on parental advocacy in Europe[/UK], some
research has been conducted on this topic in the USA. For instance, Tobis et al. (2020)
have shown that effective parental advocacy reduced the numbers of children entering
state care. Furthermore, for families with children in state care,studies have shown children
of programme participants involved in parental advocacy or peer parental advocacy
programmes to be more likely to return home than non-participants and parent advocacy
was shown to impact decisions around child placements and improve family outcomes
(Lalayants et al.,2021;Chambers et al.,2019). This research paper consequently seeks to
fill a gap by exploring the topic of parental advocacy withinthe UK context.
There are different types of parental advocacy, this includes “professional” advocates
advocating for parents; these are advocates independent of local authorities and social
services and who have undertaken training and often obtained qualifications relevant to
child welfare to support parents. Another type of parental advocacy is peer parental
advocacy, whereby someone with lived experience of the child protection system
advocates on behalf of another parent.The vast majority of studies carried out to date relate
to peer parental advocacy (Berrick et al., 2011a,2011b;Lalayants,2012,2017;Rockhill
et al.,2015
).
Although UK research on non-peer parental advocacy is scant, Featherstone et al. (2011)
undertook an evaluation of a UK-based non-peer parental advocacy service run by the
family rights group. The study found that the advocates positively impacted partnership
working between parents and professionals. The study also highlighted the lack of political
agenda concerning the development of advocacy schemes for parents who are often left
unsupported as they try to navigatecomplex social work processes.
This paper uses the term “parent advocate” (PA), elsewhere referred to as peer advocate
and parent partner.
2. Thepotential of parental advocacy
Parental advocacy models have emerged to address the marginalisation of parents when
navigating complexchild welfare systems. Key distinctionscan be delineated between peer
advocacy approaches and professional advocacy models. For example, peer advocacy
programmes engage parents who have previously navigated child protection systems, to
mentor and support families currently involvedwith children’s services (Berrick et al.,2011a,
2011b). These peer mentors draw strongly on the power of shared lived experiences when
relating to families and building trust. Activities centred on emotional encouragement,
tangible assistance in meeting basic needs, informational support in explaining bureaucratic
processes, insider strategies for effective participation, motivational coaching regarding
goals, such as reunification, and accompaniment to meetings, to represent parent
perspectives(Berrick et al., 2011a,2011b;Frame et al.,2010).
PAGE 90 jJOURNAL OF CHILDREN’S SERVICES jVOL. 19 NO. 2 2024
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeStart Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting