What is Advocacy?

From Advocacy 2000 Key Ideas on Independent Advocacy

Advocacy is about standing up for, and sticking with, a person or group and taking their side.

Advocacy is about standing alongside people who are in danger of being pushed to the margins of society.

We all come across advocacy every day. Parents stand up for their children, children stick up for their friends. Someone who has to go to a difficult meeting or into a new situation might ask a friend to go along with them. The friend is being an advocate.

Sometimes people don’t have family or friends or anyone else who can help. Sometimes they might not understand information being given to them, or options open to them. Sometimes people may not have had enough experience or may not be confident enough to have developed their own aspirations.

For whatever reason, people may need someone to help them stand up for themselves or who can stand up for them. When someone has noone available to do this, and doesn’t know how to go about finding anyone, an independent advocate might be able to help.

What is ‘independent advocacy’?

True ‘independent’ advocacy means the advocate is not connected with carers or services that have a strong influence on the life of the person being supported.

Why is independent advocacy needed?

Health and social care workers will often act as advocates for their clients or patients within the system, and family members will often act as advocates for those they care for. Sometimes however, support is needed from somebody who doesn’t have to worry about other interests such as their own, their employer’s, or their colleagues’ – someone who can be on one side only.

People who are socially isolated or who have been relying on care services often have no such support and no knowledge of how to find it. Independent advocacy is organised to minimise conflicting interests.

People need to be able to stand up for themselves. Not everyone can do that without support. Perhaps they don’t have much confidence, or have become used to doing what is expected of them. Maybe they have difficulty communicating. The role of an independent advocate can be to help them get their point across.

Many of those who most need support in doing this are also those who have least confidence in their own opinions and aspirations and who may therefore be easily influenced. Independent advocacy is a good way to support people to develop their own opinions, aspirations and their confidence in these.

While legislation or inspection services are in place which are designed to prevent serious abuse in care services, this sets only very basic standards. In some services few people visit who are independent from those providing the service. Advocacy projects can ensure that ordinary community members are involved with, or know about these services, thus making the standard of their service public knowledge and safeguarding those people who use it.

Often people have an expectation that those needing support in their everyday lives will have this provided by local authorities, health services, charities, or governments. People may not offer support until the need for this is demonstrated to them, or until they are asked. Advocacy projects can be set up to develop the ability of the community to provide such support and help.