Josie can benefit from advocacy because it can help get the information she needs, make her own choices, understand her rights, and voice her opinions. Success relies on the agency's advocacy model, the advocate assigned to the partner, the chosen clinician, and adherence to ethical and legal considerations. Josie requires the most appropriate advocacy since it will impact her adolescence and future.
Advocacy Models
Advocates that work with at-risk families and youth have the responsibility to offer independent support to their partners where they are not being heard. They assist these persons in understanding appropriate information and ensuring that they have the right tools to make informed decisions and accessing services. Therefore, advocates backup their partners as they gather, process, and understand information, as well as advice from others. This role means that they do not represent their views but rather amplify those of the people they support.
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There are multiple advocacy models that differ due to their distinctive characteristics, based on length of involvement, type of work undertaken, and the appropriateness of the individual undertaking the advocacy role. In the self-advocacy model, people represent themselves by speaking up, with collective or individual support. It ensures that a person's voice is heard and thus promotes knowledge and skills, confidence, and rights protection. Peer advocacy focuses on common problem solving and is suitable where the person and advocate share a common ground (Scottish Independence Advocacy Alliance, 2014). The shared experiences lessen the power imbalance between the two people.
Volunteer citizen methodology is based on a one-on-one relationship between recruited and trained unpaid volunteers and an individual. The relationship lasts as the advocate represents the person’s views and may continue regardless. In the professional model, an individual seeks support from a paid advocate, who provides information and representation, and empowers the partner, and creates room for expression of choices and needs. The non-instructed advocacy caters to people with learning disabilities, dementia, acquired brain injury, and mental health problems, who cannot instruct their advocate personally. Therefore, the advocate observes the person and their issue, finds alternative communication means, and collects information from relatives and friends.
Key Advocacy Issues
Various advocacy issues are causing Josie's learning and behavioral problems at school, at home, and in the community. The key risk factors include racial prejudice, single parenthood, and depression. Josie could be experiencing racial discrimination and prejudice in school and her community because she is bi-racial and thus appears different from other children. As an eleven-year-old child, she is yet to acquire self-identity and hence does not fully understand the negative attitude that she could be receiving from others, which is common in many cultures.
Living with a single mother makes it harder for Josie because she feels the absence of her father. Additionally, her mother could be undergoing financial difficulties as she struggles to raise Josie. Discrimination for being bi-racial, her father's absence, and economic struggles could be the primary reasons behind Josie's depression. Extreme depression causes one to lack desire for living, as seen in Josie's case.
Solutions
Josie has to overcome her learning and behavioral problems by tackling these risk factors. The peer advocacy model may yield the best results in this case compared to the rest. The agency should assign a bi-racial female peer advocate to help Josie deal with racial prejudice by sharing significant life experiences with her. Having similar characteristics, such as being female and bi-racial, will help the advocate create a friendship that will lessen the power imbalance between them. Consequently, she will help this child increase her self-confidence and assertiveness so that she can have an easier time expressing herself (Scottish Independence Advocacy Alliance, 2014). The supporter may expose Josie to many positive images of bi-racial children through books, stories, and films. She should also discover why the mother is single. If it is due to separation, the advocate should find a way to get Josie’s father's attention so that he can be involved in her life. If the absence is due to death, the advocate should encourage the mother to be proactive and talk to Josie about him. This approach may include using family or photos to help her understand who he was and what he would do if he were still present.
Josie's depression's best solution is treatment by a professional as it may require medication and different types of therapy. Cognitive-behavioral therapy can help modify Josie’s behavior by altering the unhelpful thought patterns and improving the ability to solve problems. Interpersonal psychotherapy may assist the advocacy partner in learning communication skills to better express expectations and feelings (Ehmke, n.d). If the depression is severe, the medical professional may recommend anti-depressant medications such as Lexapro, Zoloft, and Cymbalta. These interventions may be extended or short-term, depending on Josie's response and change.
Roadblocks
Challenges may occur in this process of advocacy and hinder its success. The advocacy agency may not have a bi-racial female that can bond with Josie. Therefore, it is uncertain if the peer model would help her through her identity problems (Scottish Independence Advocacy Alliance, 2014). The mother’s involvement in this process may also cause failure if they hardly get along. The advocate could have a more challenging time in finding out about the child’s father and getting the mother to act if his absence is permanent.
If the father is alive, more challenges could arise in tracking him and mending the mother's relationship for the sake of Josie. The two parties should present a united front, which means they should be civilized and tolerate each other's presence without negativity. Finding a reliable clinician to treat Josie’s depression may also be puzzling (Ehmke, n.d). This individual should be committed and engaged in treatment and understand its goal while building a good relationship with the client.
Legal and Ethical Considerations
Children are vulnerable, so there are legal and ethical considerations that must be adhered to in the advocacy process. The ethical considerations require the advocate to avoid any harm to Josie as a result of the advocacy agency's decision making. This harm includes psychological or physical due to the advocacy process. Therefore, the organization should prevent negative impacts, such as being distressed.
The agency and advocate should also be familiar with the legal guidelines protecting children from abuse and harm. The advocate should be qualified to have unsupervised and direct with children and protect their confidentiality, anonymity, and privacy (Office of the Advocate for Children and Young People, n.d). Additionally, the clinician involved in Josie’s treatment should be aware of negligence since it is a legal concept and unethical. The professional should not practice outside the competence areas; else, it will violate ethical principles.
Conclusion
The peer model provides all aspects relevant to Josie's case, considering that she is a depressed child. A peer advocate who is adequately trained to handle children can increase her confidence and ability to express herself as she overcomes racial prejudice. Her father's presence can fill up the emptiness and improve her reactions, or her mother can make up for his permanent absence by indulging her with the truth and significant memories. A reliable clinician can assist Josie to heal from depression through therapy and medication. All parties involved in Josie's advocacy must adhere to legal and ethical considerations to ensure that participation does not harm Josie.
References
Ehmke, R. (n.d). Treatment for Depression. Child Mind Institute . Retrieved from https://childmind.org/article/treatment-for-depression/
Office of the Advocate for Children and Young People. (n.d). Ethical Considerations. acyp. Retrieved from https://www.acyp.nsw.gov.au/participation-resources/ethical-considerations
Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance. (2014). Families at Risk: Guidelines for Advocates. Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance . Retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjg6qP6xqntAhUUSxUIHUfwB_cQFjAAegQIAhAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.siaa.org.uk%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F11%2FSIAA_FamiliesAtRisk_web.pdf&usg=AOvVaw35NQ6Mur6suFAWqlPIFMzE
