A Guide to the Effective Involvement of Children and Young People A Guide to The Effective Involvement of Children and Young People Resource Pack Go to Chapter A Guide to the Effective Involvement of Children and Young People Why are we asking children and young people their views? Every child, young person or parent/carer is a member of society. Organisations provide services for people living in that community or society so it’s important that they are consulted and involved in the provision of services. Services need to be inclusive, relevant, cost effective, meet their users needs, improve things, and be accessible. You will be able to check all these things by involving children and young people & their families. Althought reference is made to parent and carers views and involvement, this guide is primarily concerned about the effective involvement of children and young people. Since the passing of the Children Act in 2004, there has been a growing emphasis on services actively involving children, young people and parents/carers in the Go to Chapter commissioning, development and evaluation of services. Increasingly Central and Local Government is interested in measuring outcomes rather than focussing on performance measures. They want to know about users’ perceptions of the services they receive and their views on how things can be improved. Particular attention will be given to how services are implementing the five Every Child Matters outcomes: • Being Healthy • Staying Safe • Enjoying and Achieving • Making a Positive Contribution • Achieving Economic Well Being NEXT 2 A Guide to the Effective Involvement of Children and Young People Parental participation Parents, carers and families play a vital part in the development and delivery of services. This will ensure that a service is developed reflecting local needs and hopes and supports families to access the service. Parents and carers are the experts and their child’s primary educator. United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This convention contains 52 standards that set out the Rights of a Child. Most countries including the United Kingdom have signed up to the convention. Many countries use the standards wholly or in part to promote children and young people’s involvement. The standards of most relevance to the participation of service users are: Article 12: Children and young people have the right to say what they think should happen, when adults are making decisions that affect them, and to have their opinions taken into account. Article 13: Children and young people have the right to get and to share information, as long as Go to Chapter the information is not damaging to them or others. Article 17: Children and young people have the right to receive, seek and give information. Article 23: Disabled children and young people have the right to active participation in their community. Article 2: Requires all of the rights in the convention on the Rights of the Child to be implemented for every child, without discrimination. NEXT 3 A Guide to the Effective Involvement of Children and Young People Benefits to participation The benefits of participation can be seen from two aspects: • Benefits for children and young people and parents • Success of projects and initiatives develop sustainability. Improved skills and knowledge ranging from practical skills such as presenting ideas, speaking in and to groups, writing and preparing reports, newsletters, letters, posters, negotiation and public speaking. Improved confidence, in feeling valued, being of some worth to friends and peers, and feeling successful (not all young people can be academically successful, arty or sporty). • Developing relationships with other children and young people and parents/carers. Go to Chapter • A feeling of ownership over the services they access. • Greater awareness of children and young people’s rights. • Greater awareness of participation and decision making • Benefits for projects, organisations and management boards. • Improved, better targeted and more effective services for children and young people, and their families. • It supports and complements service planning, development and evaluation. • Meets user’s needs more effectively. • Improved partnership working. • Best use of financial resources. • Meets government objectives and inspection processes. NEXT 4 A Guide to the Effective Involvement of Children and Young People Barriers to Participation Involving children and young people and parents/carers in decision-making makes good sense but can become difficult for a variety of different reasons. These may include: • Children and young people and parents/carers not wanting to get involved. • Lack of staff, resources, motivation or time within your organisation or project to involve children and young people and parents/carers • Communication barriers such as language and cultural differences. • Lack of skills to listen, and work with children and young people and parents/carers. • Lack of knowledge on Go to Chapter safeguarding and concerns over ethical constraints of involving children and young people and parents/carers. • Working flexibly with children and young people and parents/carers. Some issues are: access, time, venues etc. • Lack of confidence in knowing how to involve children and young people and parents/ carers meaningfully. • Lack of awareness of the benefits to be gained. • Over enthusiasm by workers who believe they know what is needed and how it should be delivered due to their experience. NEXT 5 A Guide to the Effective Involvement of Children and Young People What do we want to find out from children and young people? The Council need to identify and to be clear exactly what they want to involve children and young people in and the required outcomes. 1. Be clear about what you want as a Council, and be open with children and young people as to the level of influence that they can expect to have in the services that are provided for them. 2. Once you have set your objectives, consider and experiment with a range of options and methods. 3. Use information to raise awareness and encourage support - do not do anything without publicity within the organisation, and externally if possible Go to Chapter 4. Try to involve everybody but do not assume that children and young people are a homogenous group 5. Consider what resources your organisation has to offer and how other organisations may be able to support you in terms of staffing, transport, equipment etc. 6. Ask young people where and when they want to meet - ask them to advise YOU 7. Remember that children and young people have busy lives and develop new interests. They can become disillusioned by the time wasted on process and lose interest. 9. Take into account children and young people’s previous and current relationships with your organisation 10. Be prepared for mistakes, acknowledge you are learning and accept criticism 11. Acknowledge that initiatives and projects can be established by children and young people themselves 12. Feedback to the children or young people you are working with how their information has impacted. If you don’t they will be less willing to get involved in the future. NEXT 6 A Guide to the Effective Involvement of Children and Young People The tables below provide a helpful guide and checklist. Children and young people could be involved in a wide range of decisions, for example setting and reviewing policy, recruitment, budget, the environment, local planning etc. Addressing the following questions will help to ensure that both the process and outcomes are positive. This list is not exhaustive but only a start as there are likely to be other considerations linked to the circumstances of the Local Authority, its demographic and social background affecting children and young people. Consider Example What are we consulting about? It is important to be clear about the objectives and New recreational facilities in the community? the boundaries. Sports and leisure opportunities? Places to go Go to Chapter and things to do? Improving community cohesion By identifying the benefits that you are primarily and anti-social behaviour? How to reduce graffiti interested in achieving through children’s and and litter problems? How to feel safe within the young people’s participation you will be able to community? set clear objectives and success criteria on which to base and evaluate their participation. Involve children and young people in important decisions. Whom do we consult? The answer to the ‘what’ question above will All children and young people in the Borough? inform this, so that children and young people who In a specific part of town? In specific types of will be impacted by the service can contribute to neighbourhoods/schools? Specific groups or ages? its design. NEXT 7 A Guide to the Effective Involvement of Children and Young People Consider Example At what stage? This will be informed by the ‘what’ and ‘whom’ It may not be possible to involve children and questions above. young people at all stages of the decision-making process. However, as a general rule, it is best to Getting this right will impact on the level of children involve them as early as possible. The earlier they and young people’s commitment to the process get involved, the clearer their understanding and the amount of learning they get out of it. of all the issues: required outcome, limitations Bring them as close to the decision-maker as on outcomes and their own involvement, time possible. requirements and their rights and responsibilities in the process. How much power do children and young people have? Set out clearly their role in the decision-making It is crucial to be clear about the level of control process. Be open about the limits to ideas and to give to children and young people to see the Go to Chapter recommendations e.g.