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Advocacy for young people in York

Advocacy for young people in York

Advocacy services in York are all about supporting children and young people to express their views and wishes, and helping them understand their rights and entitlements.

Some children and young people have a statutory entitlement to advocacy. This means that there should be services in place so that they can access the right advocacy support.

Please contact the services directly to find out more about the support they provide, or to make a referral:

An advocate can help you:

  • to express and communicate your views
  • if you feel like workers or services are not listening to you
  • if you would like to be more involved when decisions are being made
  • if you're unhappy with the support you're receiving
  • if you would like help to understand what professionals are saying
  • if you would like support to understand your rights and entitlements

Advocacy is led by you!

Advocates only support children and young people if that's what they want. Advocates act solely on behalf of the child or young person at their request, advocate's represent the child or young person's views and no one else's.

Advocacy is independent!

This means advocacy services are separate from the services that make decisions.

Advocacy is confidential!

An advocate will only share information where the young person has given consent for this, unless the advocate is aware of any information which puts the young person, or someone else, at risk of harm.

Speak up

Speak Up provides advocacy to children and young people who are:

  • in the care of City of York Council
  • a care leaver up to the age of 25
  • aged under 18 and wanting to make a complaint about Children's Services at City of York Council. Aged 16 or 17 and homeless
  • young people subject to a Child Protection Plan
  • young parents aged under 18 who have a child subject to a Child Protection Plan - this is not a statutory requirement but can have significant benefits to those in receipt of this support

The advocacy provided by Speak Up is mostly instructed, where advocates only act on instruction of the child or young person. Speak Up also provides non-instructed advocacy. This is only provided as a last resort when a child has no communication system or where they do not have the capacity or understanding to express their views.

Contact Speak Up:

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Children and young people in custody

Children and young people in custody have a statutory entitlement to advocacy support. The provider of this will vary depending on where the young person is detained, so it's best to check with the detention centre or ask the local Youth Justice Service.

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SENDIASS

SENDIASS stands for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information and Advice Support Service. SENDIASS provides advocacy to children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities up to the age of 25.

York SENDIASS aims to help young people and their parents to be more involved in decisions relating to their needs or disability. This includes understanding what support they should be getting with their learning, and understanding their rights and entitlements.

Contact SENDIASS:

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York Adcovacy Hub

York Advocacy Hub provides advocacy support to:

  • 16 and 17 year olds who lack mental capacity - this is called Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy (IMCA)
  • children and young people detained under the Mental Health Act - this is called Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA)
  • children aged up to 18 accessing health services who wish to make a complaint about the health service

Contact York Advocacy Hub:

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Always Heard - CORAM

Always Heard is a national service that provides advocacy to children and young people who have a statutory entitlement to this support and have been unable to access it from a local service.

Contact Always Heard:

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