The need for children's advocacy centres : hearing the voices of children

Cook, DL; Livesley, J; Long, T; Sam, M; Rowland, AG

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 coproduction, 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 coproduction in different contexts has been undertaken.
Building on Children’s Advocacy Centre models from the United States of America (which are
held in high esteem by local communities), there is perceived value of such a centre 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 centre 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.

Citation

Cook, D., Livesley, J., Long, T., Sam, M., & Rowland, A. (2021). The need for children's advocacy centres : hearing the voices of children. Comprehensive Child and Adolescent Nursing, https://doi.org/10.1080/24694193.2021.1989085

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 29, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Dec 10, 2021
• Publication Date: Dec 10, 2021
• Deposit Date: Sep 29, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 13, 2021
• Journal: Comprehensive Child and Adolescent Nursing
• Print ISSN: 2469-4193
• Electronic ISSN: 2469-4207
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/24694193.2021.1989085
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/24694193.2021.1989085
• Related Public URLs: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/icpn21/current#.VyIFvXoriao
• Additional Information: Projects : Children's Advocacy House