Understanding How advocacy services support care-experienced young people to participate in decision-making

Participation in decision-making has been found to increase self-confidence, self-efficacy, and self-worth for care-experienced children and young people, where these decisions affect their lives. Advocacy services can support young people in their participation in decision-making, enforced by legislation and guidance. However, there is little research into how advocacy can best lead to positive outcomes for care-experienced children and young people.

This research project is an exploratory study of an advocacy service for children and young people, provided as part of the children’s service within a large local authority in England. These advocacy services provide support and representation for young people, independent of the primary social work team. This study will explore the scope, operation and perceived impact of this service to develop a theoretically-informed, co-produced framework to guide the delivery of advocacy services for care-experienced children and young people.

CASCADE will conduct a rapid literature review followed by two rounds of interviews and focus groups with care-experienced young people, advocates, and social care professionals. This data will be analysed and used to develop an initial programme theory, which will articulate the underlying assumption(s) of what works in the ‘programme’, how, for whom, and in what circumstances. The research team will then facilitate workshops with young people who are receiving support from the advocacy service, alongside a peer researcher, and conduct a survey to consolidate the initial programme theory into a framework for practice.

This project was funded as part of a former Spark Grant Scheme, which aimed to fund new research in children’s social care, conducted by researchers who may struggle to secure funding through other routes, particularly Early Career Researchers (ECRs) and/or researchers from underrepresented, minoritised groups.