SOL - Children's Advocacy and Independent Services - AWARD

SMBC seeks to commission Advocacy and Independent Visitor Services to support Children within the borough. SMBC Vision is for Solihull to be a place where everyone has equal chance to be healthier, happier, safer and more prosperous; where all children and young people are loved and values by their families and communities and thrive and succeed. Our purpose is to be an organisation that improves lives rather than focuses on services. This includes enabling and supporting people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to take a full and active part in community life. There is a statutory duty to provide an Advocacy Service to looked after children, children who are not looked after but are in need, and to care experienced young people, for both formal and informal complaints under the 1989 Children Act. Additionally, the Act states that children and young people should be able to secure the support of an advocate in putting forward their wishes and feelings with regards to a change to be made in the service they receive, or the establishment they live in, without this having to be framed first as a specific complaint. There is a statutory duty to provide an Independent Visitor service outlined within this specification under the Children Act 1989 - New section (23ZB) and subsequently amended by the Children & Young Persons Act 2008. Local Authorities are required to appoint an Independent person for children and young people looked after whenever an authority considers an appointment to be in the best interests of a child. SMBC want to commission this service to support children and young people within the borough with this service.