Title: Parental Advocacy in Wales: A mixed methods evaluation of its effectiveness in supporting parents
Funder: Health and Care Research Wales (Welsh Government)

Abstract: Parents often feel disempowered, marginalised, and untrusting of child protection social workers (Muench et al 2017). Parental Advocates - parents or professionals with special training in advocacy methods and a deep understanding of the social care system – help by supporting working relationships between parents and social workers, and ensuring parents have a meaningful say in decision-making about their child/ren (Lalayants et al. forthcoming). In the USA, Parental Advocacy services (PA) have reduced the need for children to come into care, and helped children in care to return home more quickly (Polinsky 2010, Lalayants 2019, Lalayants et al. forthcoming). Wales has the highest proportion of children in care among the UK nations (Wales Centre for Public Policy 2020). PA is an increasingly prominent policy issue in Wales, and the Welsh Government has funded PA services across five Local Authorities in the Pan Gwent area. Further investment in PA is part of the Welsh Government’s Programme for the 6th Senedd, as part of its focus on transforming existing services as part of their aim to ‘prevent families breaking up by funding advocacy services for parents whose children are at risk of coming into care’ (WG 2021). Yet very little research has been undertaken on how PA works in Wales, or the UK more widely. While there is evidence about the effectiveness of PA from the USA, it is not self-evident that this learning can simply translate to the cultural, professional and policy traditions in Wales. We need to know more about how PA is implemented in Wales, the web of mechanisms by which it works (or not) and the outcomes it produces. Aims This study will further our understanding of PA in Wales by considering how such services are being implemented in three different case study areas. The three areas contain different models of PA, deploying either peer-based or professionally-based PA within different organisational and jurisdictional contexts. Using a realist approach and mixed methods, we will (i) evaluate how PA impacts preventing children entering care, and (ii) examine the key ingredients of the three different services to see how they support positive working relationships between parents and social workers and support parental involvem ent in decision-making. The overarching aim is to examine how PA works and maximise learning from three case study areas in Wales. The research questions are: • What are the key ingredients of the PA service in the three areas of Wales, and what similarities and differences are there between them? • How and under which circumstances do PAs support parents to be involved in decision- making when there are child welfare concerns? • What are the key considerations for future evaluations of PA services in Wales, and is it feasible to undertake an experimental or quasi-experimental study? Summary of potential benefits This study is expected to make a difference to marginalised and disadvantaged families by creating an evidence base on how PA services could support them and enable them to be more involved in decision-making. We expect this study to contribute towards understanding the challenges and facilitators associated with implementing PA in Wales. In doing so, it will produce empirical evidence and guidelines that will inform policy and future research on PA across the UK.

Lay abstract: Background Many parents find it hard to trust child protection social workers, and often feel marginalised and disempowered when there are concerns about their children’s safety (Featherstone et al. 2018, Diaz 2020). Parental Advocacy (PA) is an independent service that aims to support parents to have better relationships with social workers. PA services also try to to enable parents to participate more meaningfully in decision-making about their children. In the USA, PA services have helped to reduce the need for children to be in care, living away from their families. In Wales, there are lots of children living in care, more than in any other part of the UK (BBC 2021). If PA services have been effective in the USA, then they might also be effective in Wales in helping more children to live at home safely with their own families. There are three types of PA service: (1) Case advocacy: PA services offer support, guidance and information to help parents navigate and participate in the child protection system. (2) Program advocacy: PAs design and deliver programmes to support parents to care more effectively for their children. This can help keep children at home or help them return home when the child is already in care. (3) Policy advocacy: PAs engage in political activism through participation in governmental and NGO advisory boards, by attending conferences or teaching on social work courses. It aims to advocate for reform in policy, legislation, and provisions of family support. (Tobis et al. 2020) PA services are already being used in Wales, but we do not know very much about how they are working, and if they are helping parents as much as similar services did in the USA. Aims and objectives In this project, we will look at three different PA services in Wales, explore how they are working, what support they give to parents, and what difference they are making. We want to learn more about how these services operate, as well as use the research to help design a larger study for Wales. In this exploratory study, we will use the data we gather to examine how PA might influence the need for children to be in care. We will use a mixture of types and sources of data, including interviews with parents, young people, parental advocates, social workers, their managers and other stakeholders. Public Involvement This research pays particular attention to the benefits of public involvement. As a research team, we benefit from having a co-investigator who has lived experience of the child protection system. This research proposal was developed with the CASCADE Parents Research Advisory Group and through involvement from parents supported by NYAS in Caerphilly. CASCADE Parents research group are playing a major role in this study and they will be involved in drafting questions for interviews/focus groups, carrying out interviews, data analysis, report writing and dissemination. Dissemination We will disseminate our findings via a range of outputs, including a national and an international academic conference, practitioner workshops, a final report, academic publications, a film for families, blogs and a podcast. These outputs will be tailored towards parents and professionals including policymakers, service commissioners, managers, practitioners and researchers in addition to being accessible for children and families who receive social care services.

Research activity codes: 8.1 ORGANISATION AND DELIVERY OF SERVICES
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE