Child Advocacy

Advocacy ensures that people who are vulnerable have a voice for the voiceless on their behalf for the injustice and policies that may impact them directly. “Advocacy promotes equality, social justice and social inclusion” (Dalrymple & Boylan, 2013, p.203). Advocacy is helping or assisting an individual in acquiring the services they need. “Advocacy involves stepping forward on the behalf of the client to promote fair and equitable treatment or gain needed resources” (Zastrow, 2013, p. 46). Today’s societal influences have a great impact on the successful life style in which we want our kids to achieve in society. Being proficient enough to spot these issues before they arrive will help tremendously with child advocacy. When advocating these

Billy have resided with five different foster care families and physically abused by his biological parents. Some risk factors include being arrested for shoplifting, vandalizing cars and having a bad history of several school issues. The neighborhood in which Billy currently live in most gangs that are recruited consist of 50 % Hispanic and have a high crime rate with several gang related incidents per week. Since Billy is Hispanic this is a great risk factors for pressure to join the gangs because they provide a false sense of family to young recruits who are easily convinced that they have no family except the gang members. In a neighborhood such as this it will be very hard for Billy to be successful because of all the negative events that take place around him. According to textbook antisocial behavior ultimately leads young people to join deviant peer groups for support and acceptance. (McWhirter, et al, 2013). Therefore, Billy is more focused on being a part of the system in place instead of getting out and being a successful young

Billy is a minor, so I must receive an informed written consent. At the start of treatment, I will have a conversation with the foster parent of Billy’s about confidentiality and boundaries. I will make sure that Billy and his foster parents has a clear understanding of what types of information we will have to disclose. The information given will only be the minimum amount allowed.

A key legal consideration that must be addressed is Billy having a weapon on school property. Schools have a no tolerance policy for weapons. A juvenile convicted of a weapons possession offense can also be ordered into a group home, juvenile detention center, weekend detention program, a summer “boot camp” program, or other form of detention. (AACP et al., 2015). We have a duty to report any situation where there is a reason for concern for the safety of any