Practice Guide: Creating and Managing a Parent Advocacy Programme in the United Kingdom

By the Centre for Collaborative Practice

About this Guide 

Parent Advocacy programmes promote and support parents to participate in child welfare decisions. These programmes are developing in local authorities and NGOs throughout the United Kingdom as well as in other high-income countries. Many groups of parents with lived child welfare experience are working with their allies—people with learned experience—in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to increase the influence and power of parents in child welfare decision-making. 

Parent Advocates provide peer-to-peer support. They come together to help each other and to find a collective voice. Parent Advocates are also working with their allies to bring about policy, programme, and system reform. Many other groups of parents and allies are considering whether to create projects, programmes or organisations to amplify the influence and power of parents in the child welfare system in the UK. This Practice Guide is designed to help parents and their allies in the UK who have created or are in the process of creating a Parent Advocacy programme.