Child advocacy
Child advocacy refers to a range of individuals, professionals and advocacy organizations who promote the optimal development of children. An individual or organization engaging in advocacy typically seeks to protect children's rights which may be abridged or abused in a number of areas.
Rights
(Also see Children's rights)
What child advocates do
One type of children's advocate typically represents or gives voice to an individual or group whose concerns and interests are not being heard. A child advocate will try to prevent children from being harmed and may try to obtain justice for those who have already been injured in some way. A child advocate may also seek to ensure that children have access to positive influences or services which will benefit their lives such as education, childcare and proper parenting. Malnutrition is another form of harm-there are many children who go to bed without eating and it is looked over by child welfare or the police.
Another form of child advocacy happens at the policy level and aims at changing the policies of governments or even transnational policies. These advocates do lobbying, policy research, file lawsuits and engage in other types of policy change techniques.[1] Many use Internet based techniques to influence decision makers.[2]
Where child advocates can be found
Several countries have established Children's Ombudsman agencies, at national, sub-national or local levels, as independent public bodies promoting and protecting the rights of children. Other child advocates exist in school, community, and home environments, and work on an individual, group or governmental level(s) to protect and nurture children. In most circumstances, mothers, fathers, family and teachers all advocate on behalf of children, although it is well recognized that we all have the ability and responsibility to advocate on behalf of children. In Wales the Welsh Assembly Government has set up the National Advocacy Meic helpline which allows children to talk directly to advocates. These independent advocates support and represent the concerns of children.
Eight Canadian provinces, including Ontario, have an official child advocate whose job it is to protect the interests and welfare of all the children in the province. Within the criminal justice system, child advocates are concerned with the developmental needs of children and young people, and can play an important role in ensuring due process rights for young people in conflict with the law. They can help provide a voice for children and young people, ensure just and humane conditions of custody, and guard the privacy rights surrounding record provisions. They can also work to ensure that the special legal protections assigned to young people are provided with dignity and fairness.
Child Advocacy Centers
Child Advocacy Centers provide a child-friendly, safe and neutral location in which law enforcement and Child Protective Services investigators may conduct and observe forensic interviews with children who are alleged victims of crimes, and where the child and non-offending family members receive support, crisis intervention and referrals for mental health and medical treatment. The Child Advocacy Center model's main objective is to reduce trauma to child victims by bringing all disciplines together and sharing information more efficiently to minimize duplication. They also double-check and cross-check files in order to produce accurate public records. These multidisciplinary teams are made up of law enforcement officers, child protective service personnel, prosecutors,lawyers,advocates, mental health therapists and medical personnel. The multidisciplinary team meets regularly to communicate and collaborate on child maltreatment cases. Cases are reviewed beginning with the victim’s initial outcry through investigation, treatment and prosecution. Communication within the team reduces duplication and mistakes,and keeps victims from falling through the cracks.
A child forensic interview is a process where a child is given the opportunity to make a statement about what happened in a safe, supportive environment. The child is questioned in a legally-sound, developmentally appropriate manner by a trained professional. Members of the multidisciplinary team that have jurisdiction over the case observe the interview as it is taking place. Interviews are recorded, reducing the number of times children need to be interviewed, therefore reducing trauma to the child. Information gathered in the forensic interview is used to help make decisions about protection, prosecution and treatment. Conducting forensic interviews with child crime victims in a Child Advocacy Center is considered best practice.[3]
History of Child Advocacy Centers: In 1985, Congressman Robert E. "Bud" Cramer (AL), who was then a District Attorney, organized an effort to create a better system to help abused children. He was frustrated as a prosecutor, because he was having difficulty prosecuting child abuse cases and getting guilty verdicts or pleas for offenders of crimes against children. He noticed the social service and the criminal justice systems were not working together in an effective manner and this created the common problem of adding to children's emotional distress, and created a segmented, repetitious, and often frightening experience for the child victims. He pulled together law enforcement, criminal justice, child protective service, medical and mental health workers into one coordinated team that would serve child victims of crime in a respectful way. Thirty years ago, this was a revolutionary idea.
Child Advocacy Centers in the USA are accredited by the National Children's Alliance.
Voices for America's Children is a national advocacy organization with more than 60 members committed to speaking up for the well-being of children.
The Child Advocate in the USA is a national not for profit organization with connections to hundreds of other organizations and resources to address sexual abuse but also many other advocacy needs for children and families. Their goals are to serve the needs of children, families and professionals while addressing mental health, medical, educational, legal and legislative issues.
Child Advocacy organizations in the USA at the policy level exist at state and national levels and as transnational NGOs. The organizations that they work in vary from smaller organizations at the local level to multinational voluntary organizations concerned about international child rights.
The United Nations
On the international stage, the United Nations has long advocated on behalf of children through UNICEF, whose position on children was formulated and publicly formalized in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The convention sets out a summary of collective ideals and a covenant of commitments to all children on the planet.
Australia Child Advocacy in Australia began in 1996 when Isabel Field, a former toy shop owner, started researching chaotic systems and children, as a private national child advocate. Eventually, this advocate/lawyer accumulated knowledge about young children in areas such as Politics, Law, Economics, Education, Health,Housing, Child Protection, Psyche, Social Science, Policing, Media, Languages, Public health and more. This unusual combination of disciplines led to many sweeping changes, still ongoing today, and formed the knowledge bank of her registered CHILD ADVOCATE CLASS ACTION and CHILD ADVOCATE. Ms Field enjoys reaching out to the whole nation via the child----parents--family relatives--neighbours--community--fellow citizens, and had always insisted that individuals and groups must be assisted by governments. Her initial forays were of young children aged 0-8, later encompassing all age groups. Ms Field hails from the Family line of Snow - McKenzie - Field, and is known for her fierce battles, and has been described by the Federal Government Department of FAhcsia as one whom strives for a more cohesive society.
Ms Field has the view that (in Australia) a real child advocate thoroughly verifies every word in all documents relating to the child, regardless of the supplier of those documents. They investigate themselves, they prosecute, they defend. They make their own original applications to Courts, and change Courts or go up the ladder if a Children's Court is corrupt or incompetent. They are aware that delays can be a legal tactic to prevent discovery of crimes against children, as well as be useful. They seek compensation for children, even if it means the Government is at fault.And much more. Ms Field also claims that there are no real child advocates in Australia apart from herself. That many caseworkers fail due to their own dishonesty including failing to present some evidence to the Court as suspicion only, as well as that factual or claiming all as factual, which bypasses the Judges' role as an umpire. Many caseworkers fail due to a lack of training on modern issues. In Ms Fields' opinion, Australia, is in a modern phase of Complex Family Violence, Complex Child Exploitation, and Complex Child Mal-development, in addition to the physical/mental/sexual/emotional abuse problems, which are difficult to understand.
Philosophy
One thing that all child advocates have in common is healthy respect for young children. There is also recognition that in most countries, children are not seen as having the full citizenship status which confers certain rights and responsibilities as adults.
See also
References
- ↑ DeVita, C.J. & Mosher-Williams, R. (Eds.) (2001). Who speaks for America’s children?. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute.
- ↑ McNutt, J.G. (2007). Adoption of New Wave Electronic Advocacy Techniques by Nonprofit Child Advocacy Organizations. Cortes, M. & Rafter, K (eds.), Nonprofits and Technology: Emerging Research for Usable Knowledge. Chicago, IL: Lyceum Books
- ↑ Jones, Lisa; Cross, Walsh, Simone (July 2005). "CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS OF CHILD ABUSE The Research Behind "Best Practices"". Trauma, Violence & Abuse 6 (3): 254–268. doi:10.1177/1524838005277440.