The Need for Children’s Advocacy Centres: Hearing the Voices of Children
Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Comprehensive Child and Adolescent Nursing
Abstract
Children and young people (CYP) can be empowered to take on roles
as agents of change in their own communities. CYP want to be heard
and should be actively involved in the co-production, design and
development of services aimed at them to ensure that the resulting
services are acceptable and accessible. Little analysis of the framing
and discourse of co-production in different contexts has been
undertaken.
Building on Children’s Advocacy Center models from the United
States of America (which are held in high esteem by local communities), there is perceived value of such a center in the UK. A service
development initiative was designed to work with children from
Greater Manchester (UK) to determine the potential for the establishment of a children’s advocacy center in the North of England. This
report presents the design and outcome of the initiative and contributes to the literature on the co-production of such service development projects with CYP, notably the means of achieving that
outcome.
Recommendations are made for the piloting of an Advocacy House
model in the UK with collaborative efforts between CYP as well as
health, education, law enforcement, social care providers, charities and
voluntary groups. A community-inclusive partnership, underpinned by
the principles of co-production and co-design, is integral to the further
development of this pilot.
Description
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Article
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Keywords
Children's Advocacy Center, multidisciplinary teams, United Kingdom, research, International Resources, co-production, co-design, consultation
Citation
Cook, D. L., Livesley, J., Long, T., Sam, M., & Rowland, A. G. (2021). The Need for Children’s Advocacy Centres: Hearing the Voices of Children. Comprehensive Child and Adolescent Nursing, 1-15.