Advocacy skills

Listening to children and young people and ensuring their participation in decision-making can be challenging.This course considers what advocacy skills are, given the difficulties practitioners face in ensuring participation while maintaining a ‘best interest’ decision-making responsibility. As well as covering the relevant legislation, the course also explores the strategies and tools which can be used to empower children and young people and involve them in decisions about their lives, and looks at how these can be incorporated into day-to-day practice.

Learning outcomes cover:

• An understanding of what participation is in practice including the concepts of advocacy and consultation.
• Mechanisms for enabling children and young people’s participation in decision-making.
• Identifying and developing skills and resources for empowering participation.
• Values in relation to children’s rights and participation.
• Developing an action plan for putting learning into practice.