Parental advocacy is changing child protection by supporting parents to feel heard, confident and involved, improving trust, communication and collaboration in safeguarding decisions.

A new Nuffield Family Justice Observatory report evaluates a pilot intervention — the Young People’s Participation Pathway — designed to give young people involved in care proceedings the opportunity to meet regularly with the judges making decisions about their futures. Traditionally, children’s voices are represented indirectly, which can leave them feeling excluded and uncertain. The pilot found that most participants valued the meetings, reporting increased confidence, reduced anxiety and a better understanding of the court process. Some young people described feeling more at ease and trusting that decisions were being made in their best interests after direct dialogue with judges. The pilot also showed that small, meaningful changes — such as adjustments to access to personal items — were made following meetings, and that involvement helped some young people accept difficult decisions even when outcomes didn’t match their preferences. Implementation challenges included mixed views from judges about role boundaries and a need for clearer involvement of guardians. The report recommends expanding opportunities for direct engagement to support procedural justice, young people’s wellbeing and clearer understanding of care proceedings.

This webinar examines parental advocacy and its potential to transform family experiences within children’s services and care proceedings. Drawing on Swansea University’s Realist Informed Evaluation of pilot advocacy services in England, the session explores what makes these services effective, how they support parent involvement in decisions, and their impact on outcomes. Attendees will hear directly from parents, advocates, and other stakeholders and gain insights for service development, evaluation, and improving parent-professional relationships.

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. 

Learn how to build and run a parent advocacy programme that supports families, empowers parents with lived experience and improves child welfare systems.

This study delves into how parents with lived experience of the child protection system imagine peer-parent advocacy services; focusing on empathy, support, and empowerment.

Professor Clive Diaz explores psychoanalysis in social work practice — including transference, the unconscious and relational dynamics shaping care and professional relationships.

Family Group Conferencing is a family-led decision-making process used in children’s social care in the UK. Unlike traditional meetings between families and professionals when there is a safeguarding concern, Family Group Conferences are often held outside children’s services’ premises in a ‘neutral’ venue. In this article, we critique the idea that a meeting location can be neutral as spaces may be experienced differently, and hold multiple meanings, for the family, their network and professionals who take part.

In a world where political and social divisions can leave us feeling powerless, relational activism offers a hopeful alternative. It’s about making change happen through personal connections, informal relationships, and small acts of compassion.