Advocacy Focus successfully secure Salford Children’s Rights, Advocacy and Independent Visitors contract.

We are delighted to announce that we have successfully secured the Salford Children’s Rights, Advocacy and Independent Visitors contract. The service will launch on the 1^st April 2023 and will run for the next five years. Our Advocates and Independent Visitors cannot wait to work with the children and young people of Salford.

Advocacy Focus will provide support to children and young people who are known to Childrens Social Care. For these children, it can feel like decisions are being made about them, without them, but Advocacy Focus will be there to make sure that important decisions are being made in partnership with children and young people. Advocacy helps people to understand their rights, put forward their views and wishes, and explore the different options that are open to them.

As part of the bidding process, Salford Childrens Social Care worked with children and young people to identify and select the best organisation to support them. Which makes our team particularly proud to win this contract and deliver meaningful advocacy for the children and young people of Salford. Our team of Advocates will help put the power back into the hands of young people, promote their voice when they feel unheard, and help them to understand their situation.

We also promise to offer wider benefits for the children and young people of Salford. We will be going into schools to support careers advice and talk to young people about working in the voluntary, community and social enterprise sectors and helping them to prepare for their next steps.

So committed are we to increasing the life choices of young people leaving care, we will be ensuring that those using our service can seek support from someone with lived experience. That’s why we have pledged to offer two Salford care leavers an apprenticeship with Advocacy Focus, so that they can help others make sense of their situation. We will also provide business placement opportunities for young people with additional needs to help them begin their journey into the world of work.

It is essential that children and young people in care are supported by someone independent from health and social care services.  Advocacy Focus has been delivering advocacy services for 25 years and we know that the more we help young people to be their own best advocate, the better chance they will have as adults to live independently and thrive.

“We’re delighted to be chosen as the new provider for Salford Children’s Rights, Advocacy, and Independent Visitor Service, especially as the children and young people of Salford were involved in the selection process. We cannot wait to deliver our services and work with children and young people in Childrens Social Care and help them to achieve better life outcomes, whatever they may be facing or dealing with.  Advocacy is all about being seen, heard and listened to and our service will do just that for the young people of Salford, helping them stay in control of their own lives.”

Justine Forster – Chief Executive Officer, Advocacy Focus