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This week we are highlighting the work of Help at Hand, the Children’s Commissioner’s advice and representation service for children in care, children with a social worker, children living away from home (often in hospital or custody) and care leavers up to 25.

In April 2023, the Children’s Commissioner’s office entered into an agreement with Ofsted whereby Help at Hand is notified when a children’s home receives a provisional rating of inadequate. When this happens, information is also shared with Help at Hand about which local authorities have placed children there. Help at Hand then requests that the authorities responsible for the children living there confirm that the children either have an advocate or have been offered one.

All children in care are entitled to an advocate. The Commissioner’s report on advocacy shows how important it is, but also that many of these children are not aware of their rights. Children who are in inadequate homes may have experienced poor care and/or may be asked to move following the Ofsted judgement – making their need for an advocate to represent their wishes and feelings is particularly acute.

Through correspondence with local authorities requesting access to advocacy, Help at Hand has come across the following issues:

• Reluctance from some authorities to our request for advocacy, because they do not understand or appreciate its importance, especially for children who cannot express their wishes and feelings due to disability;
• Some social workers do not know about how to refer a child for an advocate; and
• It is more difficult to get advocates for children who are placed in a children’s home or residential special school by education teams, rather than care teams, as their rights around advocacy are less clear, but arguably their need is as acute.

Feedback from advocacy services

Help at Hand has had conversations with advocacy services that are allocating advocates in response to our notifications to local authorities. From these conversations, it appears that were it not for this system of notifications, some of these children would be left unaware of what an advocate is and have no meaningful access. Although Help at Hand is happy that this system may have broadened access to advocacy it remains a concern that advocacy has not been in a bigger part of these children’s lives before our involvement.

The advocates we spoke to agreed that our work with Ofsted increases children’s awareness on their right to advocacy and fosters a new pathway through which they can access this. Additionally, the advocates shared that their work with the children is very multi-faceted and often goes beyond simply offering support for the child’s referral reason. For instance, one advocate got the child involved in a local offer of an independent visiting scheme and was planning to assist the child to attend group meetings for a local group of looked after children. Independent visitor’s are kind of like mentors – volunteers who spend time with children in care to get to know the child, socialise and explore new activities together Advocates agreed that it is particularly important for children in care to have an independent professional who can explain their rights to them and support them in a range of contexts, such as meetings with professionals. Children in care are a particularly vulnerable group of children and it is crucial that they understand their right to advocacy and how to access it, especially in situations of uncertainty.

Luke, 8 years old

Luke has special needs and is non-verbal. His parents are very involved in his life but cannot meet his needs at home and so he lives in a children’s home. This home received a provisional rating of inadequate by Ofsted and Help at Hand requested he be allocated an advocate. Due to Luke’s communication difficulties the advocate worked with Luke in a “non-instructed” capacity (as he wasn’t able to verbalise what he wanted they used other approaches to ensure his best interests were represented).   

The relationship between Luke’s parents and the Local Authority had deteriorated as the parents felt children’s services had failed their child. The advocate was able to anchor decision making in Luke’s best interests. In the end Luke was able to stay in his home, that was local, but with the home making significant changes – including in senior management – to meet his needs.

Additionally, by visiting Luke in school, the advocate picked up on some serious safeguarding concerns regarding the school’s practice in managing challenging behaviours – Luke had been locked in a small classroom by himself when the advocate arrived to meet with him. The advocate raised these concerns and ensured they were addressed adequately. This demonstrates the importance of advocacy for the most vulnerable children and how this type of support provides an all-encompassing approach to protecting children and ensuring their rights are being met in all aspects of their life.

Angela, 14 years old

Angela was living in an external residential children’s home which was rated inadequate by Ofsted. She was allocated to an advocate after Help at Hand communicated with her local authority about the Ofsted rating and asked for assurance that she was offered advocacy support.

Despite having been a looked after child for a considerable amount of time at the point of the inadequate judgement, Angela had never heard about advocacy and was unaware that she had a right to this type of support.

Angela’s advocate arranged to meet her in her home to explore whether she felt happy and safe at her current placement and whether she understood the implications of the Ofsted rating. Angela shared she felt safe and happy at the home, and she had a positive relationship with the manager. The decision was made for Angela to stay at her current home, while the home addressed the concerns that were raised by Ofsted. The advocate represented Angela’s best interest in raising the importance of considering that she had been feeling happy at the placement, she’d not had any missing episodes despite a history of absconding from previous homes, and her school where she was settled was local.

The advocate will continue working with Angela, explaining her rights and advocating for her in professional’s meetings.