How Does Parent Advocacy Work?
Advocacy is free and confidential
The role of the parent advocate is to support parents to positively engage with professionals from third sector and statutory organisations to resolve issues that are negatively impacting their family.
The aim of advocacy is to empower parents so they feel part of the solution to achieve positive outcomes for the whole family.
NYAS Cymru uses a rights based approach, enabling parents and carers to exercise choice and control over situations.
What is the Role of a Parent Advocate?
Advocates work under your instruction to address your needs. They will not offer any advice or take any action without consent.
They will not make judgements, offer their own opinions, or make decisions on your behalf.
NYAS Cymru offers a parent advocacy service to support parents in resolving issues that are negatively impacting their family. The aim of the service is to help parents engage with services to better achieve positives outcomes for all the family. The service is currently only available for parents who reside is Pan Gwent.
How Can Parent Advocacy Help?
NYAS Cymru’s Independent Professional Parent Advocates (IPA) can help parent/s to:
- Effectively navigate systems including social services/education/health/housing
- Engage with professionals when children are subject to a plan of support from Social Services including care and support and child protection
- Meaningfully participate within meetings
- Understand their rights and entitlements by providing information in an accessible way
- Make informed choices
- Express their views and wishes
- Advocate for themself
- Access other appropriate sources of support
- Understand professional reports, letters and correspondence
- To make a complaint about a service when appropriate to do so
You can learn more about the role and impact of parent advocacy in our interim report below. This report is also available in Welsh.
Parents feel very lost. If it wasn’t for Parent Advocacy I would still be lost in the system and my child would not be at home
Ali, Parent Advocacy Participant
Still Have Questions?
If you have further questions about parent advocacy, or any of NYAS' support services, please get in touch and we will be happy to help.