Ms Marissa Ryan:

I will speak about the way independent advocacy functions at the moment for children in care. I am conscious that not everybody understands the difference between a guardian ad litem, who is an independent advocate for a child for the purposes of care proceedings, and advocates, who work with children at all stages throughout their care journey and in child-in-care reviews, addressing minor or major issues, depending on what they themselves want. The vast majority of our children and young people currently self-refer for advocacy. Elsewhere, we get referrals from social workers, guardians ad litem, foster parents and so on. Other countries have legislated for independent advocacy, after which the work is done through, for example, local authorities. In the UK, our sister body, for example, would provide independent advocates at local authority level, which would then be run through the equivalent of our Departments. It is similar to the guardian ad litemBill, in a way, in that the idea for the provision is brought within Government and then legislated at local administration level.