Publicity needed for advocacy services

Ronald Waterhouse has called for advocacy services for vulnerable
children to be publicised, arguing that many children are still
unaware of how to complain or where to obtain support to do
so.

Speaking at a conference earlier this month on setting the
standards in child advocacy in Wales and in response to a recent
report, Telling Concerns, which found “worrying inadequacies” in
Welsh services to protect vulnerable children, Waterhouse said
publicity about the service was “crucial”.

The need for an independent advocacy service to be available for
all looked-after children was one of the key recommendations of
Waterhouse’s landmark report, Lost in Care, which examined child
abuse of children in care in North Wales in the 1980s and
1990s.

Waterhouse added that although the pattern of care had changed
significantly since his report, not all the changes had been for
the better.

“I believe the problems faced by looked-after children currently
are likely to be as pressing as they ever were,” he said.