1. Applied Social Care Anne Marie Shier
Advocacy
Applied Social Care
Anne Marie Shier

2. What is Advocacy
At it’s simplest, advocacy is about making sure that people are encouraged to give voice to their choices and rights through the provision of independent information and support.
The notion that the process of advocacy is underpinned by key principles is helpful and influential.

3. What is Advocacy
Advocacy can mean different things to different people, for a lawyer, a citizen or a social care worker.
Citizen advocacy in the USA and Netherlands has had profound impact on the development of advocacy in general
Bateman in his study of Advocacy in Social Care states regardless of the type:
“Advocacy must be structured if it is to be affective”
(Bateman, 2000, p.16)

4. Definitions An advocate is one “who pleads the cause of another”
“who recommends or urges something – speaking positively for

5. Advocacy is a device to influence the balance of the needs/rights of the group in the favour of the needs/rights of the individual, especially those on the social margins
3 main forms of Advocacy
Self Advocacy
Citizen Advocacy
Legal Advocacy

6. Self Advocacy
Defined as a “process in which an individual or a group of people speak or act on their own behalf in pursuit of their own needs and interests”
Tenant groups
Trade unions
User groups
Peer advocates, Shine, LAMP
The Peoples First Movement

7. Peoples First Movement
People First is part of the self advocacy movement
The movement began in Sweden in 1968 when a Swedish parent’s organisation for children with developmental disabilities held a meeting
The organisation had the motto “we speak for them” meaning parents speaking for their children
The people at the meeting decided they wanted to speak for themselves and made a list of changes they wanted made to their services

8. Citizen Advocacy
Started in USA in 1966 by Wolf Wolfensberger who was working with the parents of children with disabilities
A voluntary combination of Advocacy and Partnership between a person with a disability and a person who does not have a disability
The emphasis is on giving a voice to those hwo cannot communicate effectively. A citizen advocate develops a one to one relationship promoting independence of their partner

9. Legal Advocacy
Usually takes place in a court: representing clients

10. Welfare Rights Movement
Expert in social policy, housing, health and benefits entitlements. Advocate for change nationally

11. Advocacy in Social Care
Historically advocacy has always been part of the social workers role
Malcolm Payne “Advocacy seeks to represent the interests of powerless clients to powerful individuals and social structures”
The most common form of advocacy within the helping professions is welfare rights advocacy

12. Advocacy in Social Care
Bateman describes advocacy as
“a set of core skills…with a common theme, helping another person obtain something from someone in power”
Advocacy must be structured if it is to be afective
Hard advocacy “is clear and structured” governed by legal rules
Soft advocacy “unstructured and without clear boundaries” as in Social Care

13. Hard Advocacy: Bounded Problems
Features of Bounded Problems
Have a limited timescale
Clear priorities
Limited applications
Can be treated as a separate matter
Are discrete
Usually involve a limited number of people
You will know what needs to be done
You will know what the problem is
You know what the solution would be

14. Examples of Bounded Problems
Refusal of a welfare benefit
Exclusion of a child from school
A decision by a housing official to refuse housing to a homeless person
Decision to allocate a limited amount of support to a person living in the community
Debt problems

15. Soft Advocacy: Unbounded Problems
Features of Unbounded Problems
Appear to have no solutions
Longer more uncertain timescales
Implications are greater but more uncertain
Not discrete and cannot be disentangled from their context
Involve more people
You will not know what needs to be known
You will not be sure what the problem is

16. Examples of Unbounded Problems
Many decisions about medical treatment
Joint planning of a new project with another organisation
A complain about a colleagues conduct
Negotiating a contract with a supplier
Most inter personal disputes

17. Rights and Advocacy
Advocacy is concerned with securing peoples rights and “ the people most likely to be deprived of rights are the powerless”
Citizenship
Political
Social
Civil
Turning peoples needs into rights is a key element of advocacy. E.g. social needs, welfare, health, education, participation and autonomy for those in care

18. Client
“it is precisely the notion of service to the client that underpins the ethical basis of advocacy”
The Other Side
Lawyers slang. Used in advocacy to distinguish who the advocate and the client are and who the ‘opponent’ may be

19. Principled Advocacy in Social Care
Principled Advocacy is an approach to advocacy in social care settings which lays down a structure for advocates to follow and clarifies the ethical obligations

20. Six Principles (Bateman, 2000)
Always act in the clients best interests
Always act in accordance with a clients wishes and instructions
Keep the client properly informed
Carry out instructions with diligence and competence
Act impartially and offer frank, independent advice
The advocate should maintain the rules of confidentiality

21. Principle 1: Always act in the clients best interests
Reminds us of who we are advocating for
Keeps us from forming a partnership with the other side
Resolving ethical dilemmas can be assisted by principle 2

22. Principle 2: Always act in accordance with the clients wishes and instructions
Good interviewing and listening skills are necessary to obtain the instructions from a client and it is important not to jump to conclusions or prejudice a situation

23. Principle 3: Keep the client properly informed
Examples:
Sending copies of all correspondence on the matter to the client
Drafting correspondence so that when it concerns the client personally it is written in the clients name and passed to them for approval and signature
Making phone calls to the other side when the client is present

24. Principle 4: Carry out instructions with diligence and competence
The advocate thus needs to recognise when outside help is required
Diligence, speed and efficiency
Time management and self management
Know your own limits

25. Principle 5: Act impartially and offer frank, independent advice
The advocates primary duty is to the client. This also means being able to say uncomfortable things and being able to say things that the “other” side may not like
Key Themes
Independence of action
Ignoring one’s own prejudices “love the sinner not the sin”
Conflicts of interest – internal and external

26. Principle 6: The Advocate should maintain the rules of confidentiality
Within agency policy
Conflict

27. Key Skills
Interviewing (listening skills, note taking, verbal and non verbal communication)
Assertiveness and force
Negotiation Skills
Self Management (Time and Stress Management)
Legal knowledge and research, clients rights
Litigation (legal issue, welfare rights)

28. A Structure for Advocacy
Stage 1: presentation of the problem
Stage 2: information gathering
Stage 3: legal research, policy or procedures
Stage 4: Interpretation and Feedback
Stage 5: Active negotiation and advocacy
Stage 6: Litigation