Advocacy service for children and Young people from the age of 5 to 21 and from 22 to 25 for those receiving continuing care who are the responsibility of West Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership.

Descriptions

Provision of advocacy services for Looked after children and young people from the age of 5 to 21 and from 22 to 25 for those receiving continuing care who are the responsibility of West Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership. both within and out with the council area. The service will also be required to provide advocacy services to looked after children with disabilities or additional support needs The service will be expected to use a wide range of communication methods including face to face (preferred), video conference, telephone or other method preferred by the child. It is expected that the advocacy service will deliver the service in the following areas : -Looked after children, including those in residential accommodation (some of which will be out with the Local Authority area). -Those in Kinship care or Foster Care -Looked after at home -Looked after Children with Disabilities or additional support needs -Children involved with conferences -Access to an advocate will be made available for all children attending key planning meetings (LAC reviews) The advocacy provider should have a strong understanding of children's rights or can show how the service aims to ensure staff gain this understanding. This will allow them to both inform the child about those rights and to support children in taking decisions about how they want to exercise their rights. The service should also be able to recognise and understand the rights and responsibilities of a child’s parents. The service should be mindful that parents themselves may have a need for advocacy support in order to express their wishes in relation to decisions affecting their children and should ensure that in the course of provision that parents are signposted to the appropriate services to assist. Disabled children and young people may have a range of complex needs which include communication support and support for cognitive ability and capacity to understand. The service should have experience of working with children or adults with particular needs (such as children with autism, a learning disability or a mental health need) or should be able to show how it can ensure that this can be met. Whilst service provision will predominantly be within West Lothian, there will be requirement on occasion to support children living out with the Local Authority area, mainly those in residential accommodation. It is the intention that the service provided will be a proactive one. Advocates will be informed of a child becoming looked after and will then be required to introduce themselves to the child and offer to make themselves available as the child’s advocate should this be required. The advocate will be expected to contact the young person if certain circumstances arise in the child’s care e.g. attendance at a LAC review or children’s hearing. It will be incumbent on the Advocate to maintain regular contact and build up a relationship with the young person during the course of the contract allowing the young person to become comfortable in engaging with the advocate. For information presently 450 children are looked after by WLHSCP The service will be available throughout the year with the exception of the main public holidays This tender has a fixed budget so will be evaluated 100% on the quality questions, with bidders requiring to confirm they can provide the service for the budget available