Abstract
This article presents the research of the project Giving Young People a Voice: Advocacy in Children’s Homes, set up as a result of the interest of a nonprofit organization working with looked-after children, with an aim to improve advocacy as a listening process and to promote the participation of children that reside in children’s homes. The research focused on the implementation of a visiting advocacy project and the activities carried out by an independent advocate working in children’s homes. The children’s evaluation of the project was collected by two focus groups; interviews were conducted with social care workers and the manager of the organization. This research deals with the implementation of the first visiting advocacy project in the context of the Italian child protection system.
Highlights
Child Advocacy and Out-of-home Children in ItalyThis article deals with a study of the first visiting advocacy project for children in residential care in Italy
The study data was gathered by two focus groups with fourteen children and young people hosted in the homes and semi-structured interviews with nine social care workers and the manager of the non-profit organization that has implemented the project
From the thematic data analysis of the focus groups and the semistructured interviews, the children and social care workers point of view emerges on the usefulness of advocacy support for children and young people and the impact of the project on the system of the nonprofit organization
Summary
Child Advocacy and Out-of-home Children in ItalyThis article deals with a study of the first visiting advocacy project for children in residential care in Italy. The study data was gathered by two focus groups with fourteen children and young people hosted in the homes and semi-structured interviews with nine social care workers and the manager of the non-profit organization that has implemented the project. The importance of involving children and young people in decisions that affect their lives is being increasingly recognized (Gallagher et al 2012). To this purpose, independent advocacy has been shown to be useful (Boylan and Dalrymple 2006; Munro 2001; Noon 2000; Vis et al 2011), but, in the Italian child protection system, it is still a new professional practice (Calcaterra 2014; 2016)
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