Role Play Part A- Hanna is unhappy

You work in an agency assisting youth in out of home care. Hannah (15) has been your client for an extended period of time. You have a strong relationship and she trusts you.

Today she is very unhappy and angry because she has found out that her file at the Child Protection office has been closed without her being interviewed about the abuse she experienced at home.

Your role is to listen to her, document her concerns, and to talk with her about advocating on her behalf to Child Protection.

Instructions to person playing the role of Hannah (version 2)

• Read the role play scenario 'Hannah is unhappy'.

• You are 15 years old and have recently moved into a youth residential unit.

• You moved out of home four months ago after you felt that you couldn't live at home any more.

• You have been disengaged from school for several years - turning up only when you felt like it.

• You preferred to hang around with your friends, smoking, drinking and partying and generally getting up to mischief.

• A few months' later you were getting into trouble with the police and now you have found yourself in the youth residential house which you hate.

• When you moved into the house, you disclosed to the youth worker that you had been physically abused at home. Your mother often used to hit you. Your father used to lock you in your room to try to stop you going out with your friends. On occasion he hit you as well. This was a common occurrence in your house and your two older brothers had copped the same treatment.

• The youth worker put you in touch with Child Protection who spoke to you over the phone and took a short statement. You were told that they would get back to you soon in an interview so that you could give the whole story. Since then you had heard nothing until you got a letter yesterday saying that the file had been closed.

• You are feeling so angry. It seems that they didn't believe you. You are in trouble all the time but what about the abuse you suffered for years.

• You want to go into the Child Protection office and yell and scream until someone listens to you. But your youth worker tells you that won't be the best approach.

• Today you are talking to someone who might be able to talk to Child Protection on your behalf. You would rather go in and give them a piece of your mind - but you know you will just make an idiot of yourself.

• During the discussion you agree for them to advocate on your behalf and you decide that you do not want to attend.

Your assessor will be observing you during this role play and will use an observation checklist to record your progress. This checklist is reproduced below. You may refer to this list during the role play to ensure you demonstrate all the points that are recorded. This is for information only - you do not need to complete the checklist.

Observation Checklist

Task	Yes	No	Comments
Part A: Role Play 1 - Hanna is unhappy
Discuss the advocacy process including the roles and responsibilities of all parties
Identify the client's interests and concerns and their requirements for advocacy
Explain the advocacy process fully to the client
Identify goals and objectives and how success will be measured
Discuss the potential impact that decisions may have on the client
Work in line with legal, organisation and duty of care requirements
Sum up and close meeting

Part B: Role Play 2: Advocate for a client

Advocate for Hannah.

Using the information you gained during your discussion with Hannah, meet with the Child Protection officer to advocate on her behalf to attempt to get the file re-opened.

You will find that there are some barriers to Hannah's rights being upheld. Where necessary advocate for Hannah's rights and attempt to negotiate solutions.

Instructions to person playing the role of Program Manager (version 2)

You work for the Child Protection office. At short notice you have been asked to talk to a person who is advocating for a young client, Hanna.

You have a short period of time before the meeting to read the file. On the file you find:

• An initial complaint given by client by phone
• Several records of phone conversations where Hanna has rung Child Protection being abusive, shouting and swearing about anything and everything.
• One security report when Hannah had come into the Child Protection office and been verbally abusive. She appeared to be substance affected at the time.
• She has been very rude to workers in the Child Protection Office and on one visit to the office, security had to be called.
• Records of conversations with the mother and her boyfriend deny any allegations of abuse.
• A decision (not made by you) to close the files as it has not been possible to interview Hannah in a safe and coherent manner.

• You are extremely busy and are quite annoyed that you have been given this job to do.

• Listen to what the advocate has to say but make it obvious that you are in a hurry and don't have time to address this now.

• Try to fob the advocate off saying 'we have talked to Hanna a million times'. Every time she just loses her cool and we can't finish the conversation. If she doesn't get her way she just goes crazy.

• Refuse at first to admit that Hannah should have been given other opportunities to tell her story.

• As the advocate represents the client start to understand what has gone wrong and think about what to do.

• You have the delegation to re-open the file but are reluctant to as it was another worker who closed it and this isn't really your job anyway - you have a huge case load on your own.

• If the advocate negotiates effectively, agree that you will go back to the person who originally closed the file but at this stage don't agree to anything further.

• If the worker continues to negotiate successfully, agree that you will give the case carefully yourself. And you agree to meet with Hannah - but only if the advocate is present - tomorrow afternoon. Stipulate that the advocate should remind her client to behave; otherwise the interview will be terminated.

• Negotiate any further issues with the advocate.

Ad lib any other points that the advocate may bring up.

Your assessor will be observing you during this role play and will use an observation checklist to record you progress. This checklist is reproduced below. You may refer to this list during the role play to ensure you demonstrate all the points that are recorded. This is for information only - you do not need to complete the checklist.

Observation checklist

Task	Yes	No	Comments
Role Play Part B - Advocate for Hannah
Meet with the Child Protection Officer to represent your client and optimise client outcomes
Clearly communicate the purpose of the advocacy and the client's goals and objectives
Identify areas of conflict and negotiate effectively to maximise outcomes for your client
Work in line with legal, organisation and duty of care requirements.
Sum up and close meeting

These are two role plays corelated to each other and i need proper communication dialogue for both of these