By Sue Macdonald, Director of Operations.
At its core, advocacy for children and young people should offer hope in a world where it is sometimes difficult to wade through the darkness to get to light. Children and young people in the out-of-home care and/or with experience of youth detention have higher levels of vulnerability and lower levels of privilege than their peers. They’ve faced significant adversity, maltreatment, and trauma. It is critical that they have reliable and staunch advocates to help them through systems they did not choose to join where their voice can be drowned out for convenience or by more vocal adults.
No matter your role in a child’s life, there is likely a part you can play so they are listened to, and their voices amplified when needed. To do this well, it means not forgetting they are important and deserve support, no matter their age or the situation they are caught up in. It means giving hope by challenging big systems and rallying against the ‘status quo’. It means being committed to learning and making sure your efforts are well-informed, grounded, evidence based and designed to make a difference.
At the Office of the Guardian, we strive to centre the voice of children and young people in all we do. Otherwise, we are ignoring their plight, their trauma, and allowing the system to assume greater importance than the needs of the individual.
Imagine a young person who has been in the care system for many years and is fast approaching their eighteenth birthday. Due to the child protection system being overwhelmed with demand, very little planning has been undertaken to help the young person transition from care into the world of being an independent adult. This young person reaches out to our office, anxious and not really knowing how to approach the discussion but knowing they require help to survive.
Our advocates will build rapport with young people and foster a relationship in which the young person can begin to organise their thoughts and express their needs. After deeply listening and checking to ensure there is a common understanding of what the young person needs and wants, a collaborative plan is developed. With the young person’s permission, the advocate will reach out to the Department for Child Protection to clarify what plans are in place for big issues like housing and therapeutic support, but also for everyday things like budgeting, cooking and being able to stay connected to school, siblings, family and other significant people.
Phone calls are made, meetings are attended, documentation is reviewed, persistence is required, but an advocate must remain true to making sure the young person’s voice is heard. The young person should be provided with updates on progress – ensuring they know action is being taken and the person they trusted for help will not give up when things get hard.
We encourage other important adults who may become a support system for children in care or youth detention to take a similar approach. Listen deeply to what children and young people say about their experiences and what they need. Check with them that the action being taken meets their expectations, or whether it has the potential to create positive change for them. Ultimately, recognise that children and young people are experts in their own lives, feelings, and journeys. When challenging the system and are told “no” or “that’s not possible”, be curious as to why that is the case and ask “why” in many ways. Very often, the first barrier encountered is just that – a barrier; not a dead end.
Advocacy is very often challenging and getting success may not always be quick and easy, but it’s important that we never lose hope.
As Rebecca Solnit so eloquently said:
“Hope just means another world might be possible, not promise, not guaranteed but possible. Hope calls for action; action is impossible without hope”
