Advocacy in family group conferences
Recent research has shown that although generally positive about the meetings, children and young people often leave their family group conferences feeling they haven’t been ‘heard’ by their families or the service providers. From the young person’s perspective a family group conference can therefore appear to be just a different kind of adult dominated meeting.
In 1998 the Barnardo’s Wiltshire and Swindon Family Group Conference services began to offer independent advocates as an alternative to family supporters. The high take up by young people confirms the findings of the research. 51 of 68 young people chose to have an independent advocate for their family group conference. Six decided they didn’t need any support and eleven chose a family or ‘network’ advocate. (Note: we only offer advocates to children aged five and over).
The impact of hearing the child’s wishes and feelings can be immensely powerful. Even very young children have grasped the opportunity to present their information to their meeting. Both family members and service providers have commented on how useful it is to hear the child’s perspective. Their ideas about what would work to improve their situation are often included in the final plan.
