30-year anniversary: Children's Advocacy and Rights of the Child

Children and other vulnerable groups sometimes struggle to have their voice heard, let alone to express or share their experience and wishes. Yet it is upon their shoulders that our future rests. The legitimacy and importance of children’s voices is an important consideration in the Family Law setting and one which must be given due weight when settling arrangements for all clients in the mediation, collaborative or family law or arbitration scenario.

2019 brings the thirty year anniversary of two significant events which had monumental influence on the way we view children’s rights and value the experience of childhood. The anniversary brings cause for celebration, but also a time to reflect in what remains to be done.

How can we bring protection and promotion of children’s rights into Family Law?

Background and reflection

Back in 1989 Parliament passed The Children Act (1989) and the United Nations adopted the Convention of Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Both these important moments recognise children’s wishes and feelings and give credence to children’s views about decisions and actions which affect their care.

Article 12 of the UNCRC and duties in the Children Act 1989 entitles children to express their views freely in all matters affecting then, and to have these views given due weight in accordance with the child’s age and maturity.

Family Law

Clearly these have tremendous implications for Family Law. Frequently separating spouses or couples may be finalising access arrangements or discussing how caregiving will be split between families and parents: dramatically altering their child’s lived experience. The change itself may be extremely stressful and may leave children feeling powerless and frightened, with unanswered questions or concerns.

Like all change, an attendant level of foreboding, upset to established routines, fears for the future and even questions about identity and value may profoundly shake a young person’s life.

Too many services and public bodies are designed without children’s best interests in mind. Despite the best intentions and especially in light of funding limits, precedence may be given to process and adult voices. Children’s wishes and feelings can be overlooked and ignored.

Part of mediation and arbitration aims to make these rights a reality to all children.

To hear the voice of the child and not just do what others may consider ‘right’ or ‘best’ for them, but to have the child’s own views and thoughts considered. A recent report* on Children’s Advocacy published earlier this year by the Children’s Commissioner for England stated that ‘systems can become too rigid and inflexible to be able to respond effectively enough to individuals’ needs and when more than one agency is involved the experience of the service can become even more disjointed.’

Much remains to be done in put this legislation into practice in the ‘living’ setting of court.

Children’s Advocacy

Although there is still much to be done, the Children’s Advocacy Services help promote independent advocacy as a means to empower children to challenge decisions about their lives and well as have a say and express their view.

How advocacy works

Advocates work with core values to promote the voice of the child. The seven aims they work to are:

1.) To impart dignity 2.) Promote personal power 3.) Work at the pace of the child 4.) Advocate the influence of the child in decision-making 5.) Aim to achieve definite results as judged by the child (the child judges just how effective advocacy services are) 6.) Improvement led for and by children, listening to children’s views to influence how the work and what changes need to be made to help the services run better.

Although a Child Advocate cannot represent the child in court proceedings, they may be called upon to give evidence at certain stages.

Parliamentary Action

Much of the above depends on parliamentary legislation, hence the need for a working government arena for discussion and debate, in order to enshrine children’s rights into he machinery of the court system.

You can read more on children’s advocacy in the UK at: https://www.barnardos.org.uk/what-we-do/protecting-children/childrens-rights-advocacy

*The full report on advocacy for children (published June 2019) is available online on the Children’s Commissioner for England’s website at https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/publication/advocacy-for-children/