Advocacy, Independent Visitors and Independent Reviewing Officers

All children living in the home must have access to, and be actively encouraged to involve an independent Advocate and, where appropriate, an Independent Visitor.

Children in Care are legally entitled to an Independent Advocate to advise them and ensure they have the support needed to express their views, wishes and feelings about their care and lives.

Although there is not a legal requirement for children who are not in care to have access to an independent Advocate, there is a Quality Standards understanding that homes caring for these children should ensure that they can access advocacy support.

The home must provide suitable facilities within the home for children to meet privately at any reasonable time with an Independent Visitor – see Family Time with Parents/Carers and Siblings Procedure.

There is a legal requirement for the Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) of a child in care to ensure that they understand they have an entitlement to independent advocacy support arranged by the child’s local authority (Chapter 3, IRO Handbook). Adults should complement any explanation given by the IRO by helping looked-after children to understand the role of an independent Advocate and how they can access one. Adults should regularly remind children of their right to access an independent Advocate. This information should be included in the Children's Guide.

Children must be informed of their right to contact their IRO. They should be told who their IRO is and how to contact them.

Children should also be provided with information about how to obtain independent support from the Children's Commissioner, such as:

Help at Hand is the Children's Commissioner's advice and assistance service for children in care, children who have a social worker or are working with social services, children living away from home and care experienced young people.

The law says children's services must:

• Make sure you have an up-to-date Care Plan. A Care Plan is a document that says how your needs will be met, who will be responsible for supporting you and what the long-term plans are for your care. Your Care Plan must reflect your views and you should be given a copy. Someone should sit down with you to make sure you understand what it says;
• Make sure you have a Placement Plan. This forms part of your Care Plan and explains why your home was chosen and how the home will care for you on a day-to-day basis;
• Make sure you have a Personal Education Plan (PEP). This can be part of your Care Plan and considers your educational needs and how you will be supported to achieve your educational goals;
• Make sure you have a Health Action Plan. This considers your health care needs and how those needs will be met;
• Provide you with an Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO). An IRO is responsible for making sure that the local authority is doing their best to take care of you - see below for more information. An IRO will chair your Review meetings and should work with you to ensure that these meetings are useful and include your wishes and feelings. You should be given the chance to chair your own Reviews, if you wish. The Care Plan must be regularly reviewed at the Review;
• Account for your personal circumstances. Your religion, ethnic and racial background, culture and language should be taken into account when decisions are made about you. You have the right to maintain ties to the things that are important to you and your identity;
• Help you have contact with important people in your life. This includes parents, siblings, extended family members and close friends;
• Make sure a social worker visits you in your home regularly. They should also offer to speak with you alone if you would like;
• Provide you with an independent advocate if you want one. You should also receive information on how to make a formal complaint;

If you have any questions or concerns about this, children or their advocates can contact Help at Hand for free by phone, website or email. Phone them for free on 0800 528 0731.

Independent Advocates can support both the child and the home to seek redress of issues which affect them, such as lack of contact with their social worker, time with family and post 16 arrangements, in addition to issues about their care within the home.

Advocates can help to ensure that children's wishes and feelings are heard and, as far as possible, taken into account when the placing authority and adults in the home are making decisions about their care. The Advocate can also represent or assist a child at reviews or meetings and help in making a complaint or bringing a matter to the attention of adults or the Regulatory Authority.

An Advocate's role is to promote children and young people's central involvement in decisions affecting their lives. The nature of support advocacy provides varies considerably as it is dependent upon each local authority's commissioning arrangements, but every service follows these core principles:

• The Advocate should not be directive or judgmental but should help the young person to express their views;
• Young people should be offered full information in expressing their views;
• Young people should decide upon the best course of action;
• The Advocate should always remain fully supportive of the young person.

The Placing Authority must appoint an Independent Visitor where it appears to them that it would be in the child's interests to do so. This should be considered as part of the development of the Care Plan for the child and at the child's review meeting.

A local authority should assess whether it would be appropriate to appoint an Independent Visitor for the child they are looking after if either of the following is satisfied:

• It appears that communication between the child and their parent/person with parental responsibility has been infrequent;
• The child has not been visited (or has not lived with) a parent or any person who has parental responsibility for the child, during the preceding 12 months.

The following factors should be considered by the local authority when deciding if it would be appropriate to appoint an independent visitor:

• If the child is placed at a distance from home;
• If the child is unable to go out independently or experiences difficulties in communication and building positive relationships;
• If the child is at risk of being groomed or exploited;
• If a child placed in a residential setting would benefit from a more individualised setting; and
• If it would contribute to promoting the child's health and education.

The child must agree to the appointment of an Independent Visitor. Referrals for an Independent Visitor should be made to the independent Visitor Service / Coordinator in the Placing Authority.

The Independent Visitor will visit, advise, and befriend the child, with the aim of establishing a trusting and positive relationship. They way in which they do this will vary according to the needs and wishes of each individual child. Ideally they should remain a constant in the child’s life, and be there if a child moves on or has a change of social worker.

The role of the Independent Visitor is to be child-focused and contribute to the welfare of the child. In particular they should:

• Promote the child's developmental, social, emotional, educational, religious and cultural needs;
• Encourage the child to exercise their rights and to participate in decisions which will affect them;
• Support the Safety Plan for the child; and
• Aim, as far as possible, to complement the activities of adults.

The Independent Visitor may also contribute to a child's review meetings, either in writing or in person, if they have been invited or the child requests their attendance.

If a Local Authority is looking after a child, it must appoint an Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) for that child.

Under the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010, the IRO has a responsibility to monitor the child's care in between Child in Care Reviews. They should be notified of significant changes / events in the child's life.

For example the IRO should be notified and consulted in the following situations:

• Before a child is placed outside the area where the child normally lives;
• If there are safeguarding concerns in relation to the child;
• If a child runs away or goes missing from the home;
• If a child or their parent complains about their care;
• If a child is charged with an offence;
• If a child is excluded from school;
• If the child has any significant health concerns or medical events, including accidents.

Children must be provided with information on how to contact their IRO if they have concerns about their care and / or place they live.

Managers in the home should also consult the IRO if they are concerned about the child's wellbeing or ability to remain in the home.

If the IRO has concerns about the child e.g. that the Care Plan is not being properly progressed, they have a duty to report this to CAFCASS.