Youth advocate

In the field of youth advocacy, a person is someone who acts in the best interests of the young with whom they are working. Young people's human rights should be protected, and their skills should be developed in all aspects of their lives, including education, health, housing, job, and interpersonal relationships. Youth advocates serve a variety of roles in their communities. While interacting with adults who have professional and authoritative positions in their lives, a youth advocate's goal is to avoid adolescents from experiencing lowered self-esteem or other negative feelings. Judges, attorneys, professors, and other professionals are examples of these adults. In the words of Travis Lloyd, a youth advocate is a person who plays a vital supporting role in the social and legal processes of young people's life, particularly those who are homeless or in foster care and lack family support. In terms of the legal elements, a youth advocate is defined by the National Association of Young Courts as a person who gives assistance to a youth respondent or defendant during a court hearing.

In addition, a youth advocate guarantees that not only are youth's human rights protected, but that their opinions and sentiments concerning services and institutions are taken into consideration as well as heard. Many youth champions have had personal experiences that are comparable to those that the youngsters they are advocating for are going through right now themselves. Youth advocates should be aware of this since it makes it simpler for them to sympathise with the people they are working with. Youth who are involved with services or systems (whether in mental health, juvenile justice, drug abuse, foster care, or homelessness) are often dehumanised, their ideas, emotions, and insights are disregarded, and they are further traumatised as a result of their experiences. The presence of a youth advocate (who is familiar with the feelings that young people might have in similar circumstances) in a young person's life can be transformative, and it can help that young person find a road to stability and success.