Participation & Children's Rights
These are the participation principles that we aspire to...
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) requires us all to ensure that children’s rights are respected and Article 12 (respect for the views of the child) is probably the most well known as it reaches many of the cross-cutting issues affecting children in all aspects of their lives.
The law in England says adults need to keep you safe and that they should find out your wishes and feelings and take them into consideration when making decisions about providing services to meet your needs, you can read more about safeguarding law here.
Ensuring children are listened to is vital to ensure their other rights, including their protection from abuse.
So we firmly believe that participation is protective and the Young Researchers Advisory Panel agree, saying that “participatory approaches, taking a collaborative and trauma-informed approach can also have safeguarding benefits for young people” they go on to say that “not working with young people is a risk in itself for our knowledge and their recovery”
Effective participation can support children to understand their identity, make sense of the past and build lasting relationships.
For children who have experienced disruption, harm, danger or trauma, being seen and heard is crucial. It is the job of child and family professionals to ensure this happens
Professor Lundy makes it clear that 'voice is not enough'.
She identified four key concepts for participation with purpose and we have built our principles above on her interrelated stages…
|
|
Voice children, young people, parents and carers must be facilitated to express their views
|
|
Space children, young people, parents and carers must be given safe, inclusive opportunities to form and express their views
|
|
|
Audience the views must be listened to by a professional with the power to make decisions
|
|
Influence the views must be acted on, as appropriate, and outcomes fed back to children, young people, parents and carers
|
More advice here from Childline on rights in lots of areas of your life.
-
The Children’s Rights Team from Cornwall Council worked with local children and young people to create a series of short films.
Children's Rights +
In this film the children and young people explain what Children’s Rights mean to them, how it feels when rights are upheld and what it would be like if they couldn’t express themselves.
If you think that your rights are not being met, try to talk to someone you feel safe with about this so they can help you have your rights upheld and your views and wishes heard. This could be a teacher, family member, social worker, advocate or youth worker. You can also call a helpline like Childline for advice.
Always remember that everyone has rights, so you can help others by respecting their rights too.
Advocacy
Advocates are people who can offer advice and support to children and young people who are experiencing certain situations in their lives including living in care, having a disability, being homeless or wanting to make a complaint. An Advocate's main role is to make sure that your views, wishes and feelings are heard when decisions are being made about your life. If you think you are entitled to an Advocate read more here or speak to someone you trust like a teacher, youth worker, social worker or family member and they can help make a referral.
Children's Commissioners
Each of the four nations in the UK has a Children's Commissioner who is responsible for promoting and protecting the rights and best interests of children and young people.
The Children’s Commissioner for England is there to promote the rights, views and interests of children in policies or decisions affecting their lives. They particularly represent children who are vulnerable or who find it hard to make their views known. The current commissioner is Dame Rachel de Souza. She says that her priority is to listen to children across the country and hear about their lives, which will help shape her time as Children’s Commissioner.
She has published The Big Ambition, compiling the voices, views and experiences of children about their lives and aspirations. Over 367,000 children and adults engaged with it, and findings cover 10 themes of family, education, children’s social care, youth work, online safety, health, safety from crime, jobs and skills, unaccompanied children seeking asylum and thoughts on ‘a better world’.