Children's Consultation and Participation

1. Introduction

Participation of children and young people in decisions about their lives is an essential part of growing up and if done well it enhances children's safety and well-being and improves services designed to support and protect them. In the world of social care it is often happening in complex and emotionally charged situations. To be done well it requires a commitment at all levels of an organisation to reflect on and promote:

• Positive attitudes to children;
• Skills at communicating;
• Financial resources;
• Commitment to developing services which support children's participation, such as advocacy and participation services;
• Honest consideration of what expectations are of what can be achieved and what the level of willingness is to change existing services and decisions in response to children's views.

The Local Authority is actively seeking to ensure children and young people are consulted about decisions and processes that affect them. The Munro Review made clear that what is important to children and young people is 'reliability, honesty and continuity'. The Local Authority is committed to ensuring that children and young people are informed about what is happening to them and promotes opportunities to contribute to what is happening. The aim is to share and practise positive approaches to effective communication and learning through active listening. The Local Authority is committed to both speaking and listening clearly, purposefully and honestly with children and young people.

The Local Authority seeks to consider identity, diversity, culture, sexual orientation, language, disability, delayed speech, low confidence and trust in all its interactions with both children and adults.

Every member of our staff is committed to seeking and recording the views of every child they work with. They will also record the decisions that are made and the influence that the views of the child/young person have had on those decisions. Where decisions are made that are different from or contrary to the views of the child or young person this will be clearly recorded with the reasons for the decision clearly explained.

In addition, the Local Authority will ensure that systems are in place to support formal consultation with young people's groups and will seek to aggregate individual issues and concerns so that managers may consider the impact that current services have on young people. This information may be used to inform future developments.

2. Benefits of Participation

Much has been written on the benefits and barriers to participation in matters that affect them. In brief the benefits for children and young people are:

• Having a safe space to reflect on the events that have brought them into contact with Social Care;
• The opportunity to give their version of what has happened to them and to say what they would like to happen in the future;
• The sense of empowerment that comes from being listened to and seeing what one has said making a difference to what happens;
• The possibility of having their concerns and issues dealt with at an early stage, which could have an immediate impact for them in terms of how they identify their 'quality of life';
• The opportunity to have explained to them what is happening in the present moment and what is likely to happen in the future and what will be done to keep them (and their siblings) safe.

For parents/carers the benefits of children's participation can be:

• The opportunity (perhaps for the first time) to hear their children's views about what has happened and what they want to change;
• A model of communicating that may improve their relationship with their child(ren).

For professionals and organisations offering services to children and young people the benefits can be:

• Reinforcement of a focus on the child's safety and wellbeing;
• A self auditing tool;
• The greater likelihood of effective engagement with the Plan by the child / young person themselves;
• A focus for all professionals to work from.

3. Barriers to Participation

There are a number of barriers to participation. Broadly speaking these are:

• Structural - complex procedures and lack of clarity about responsibilities; too many changes of personnel;
• A lack of clarity about what participation is or confusion over how it will be addressed and a lack of clarity about what it can and cannot change and what it should deliver for the child, the family and the organisation;
• Competence - staff lacking in experience or having an inability to effectively communicate with children, or children of a particular age or from a particular culture;
• Capacity - a lack of time (e.g. staff too overwhelmed by other pressures) or other resources required to enable participation, thus 'rushing' or making it a 'box ticking' exercise;
• Inadequate plans that fail to be clear about who will be responsible for ensuring participation;
• Children's behaviour - can be misinterpreted and sometimes causes a barrier for professionals and carers. Those seeking to engage often need a variety of tools / methods and patience/space to deal with this to promote engagement;
• Children themselves can become disinterested and disengaged because of delays;
• Children are far more spontaneous and their timescales are far shorter;
• Professionals need to ensure that children have a variety of times, people, places and approaches to participation available to them (i.e. seeing children on their own, allowing time after traumatic events).

4. Promoting Participation

The Local Authority has a number of formal processes for seeking the Participation and consultation of children and young people. Staff, carers, managers and others who come into contact with children are encouraged and enabled to see each and every interaction as a potential opportunity to develop trust and confidence such that children and young people feel able to confide and state their views and preferences in matters that affect them.

5. Participation - the Role of the Social Worker

The most important means of encouraging and enabling participation by looked after children and young people in decisions that affect them and their lives remains the relationship with their Social Worker and other significant professionals and adults in their lives.

Enabling children and young people who have not previously had opportunities to express their views is demanding and can be challenging work that requires creativity, empathy and resilience on the part of the worker. Consultations need to be planned for, reflected on and, if necessary, returned to in order that children and young people are given every opportunity to express their views.

In order for them to express views about matters that affect them it is also vital that children and young people are in possession of information and have experiences that enable them to make informed choices.

If participation is not possible or is restricted for whatever reason, steps should be taken to ensure those affected are informed of decisions as soon as practicable after they are made, and an explanation for the decision given, together with the opportunity to make a comment and express their views.

If it is then felt that a different decision may have been appropriate, steps should be taken to reconsider the decision.

If decisions are made against people's wishes, they should be informed of the decision and the reasons for the decision should be explained. In these circumstances, the person should be informed of any rights they have to formally challenge the decision, and of the availability of the Complaints or Grievance Procedure (see Complaints and Representations Procedure).

Sometimes children and young people express their preferences through their behaviour rather than through words i.e. by running away or by having tantrums. It is important to attempt to see beyond the behaviour and to try to see what the child or young person is trying to express. (Note: that where children have returned home from having run away, the 'return' interviews should be conducted by an independent person who has been trained to undertake this.

Finally, children and young people should be made aware of the systems and processes available to them if they wish to raise concerns or complain and what, if any, other forms of redress may be available to them if things go wrong.

6. Participation - the Role of Managers

Managers must ensure that social workers and/or staff have the time and resources available to them to ensure the effective participation of children and young people.

Managers should:

• Use supervision to consider issues relating to the Voice of the Child in ongoing cases;
• Check that records show where and how the Voice of the Child has been sought, what was said and how the child's wishes have been responded to and, if not, why not;
• Review, on a regular basis, the various methodologies whereby children's views are sought;
• Review complaints or concerns raised by children and young people and what actions have been taken to address these;
• Review compliments to build on this;
• Consider how representative issues raised by children and young people are in relation to such issues as gender, culture, sexuality and disability;
• Ensure processes designed to aggregate issues raised by children and young people are in place and are routinely being used;
• Ensure processes are in place whereby it can be fed back to both individual children and the wider group what changes have been made as a result of issues raised.

7. Processes for Consulting Children and Young People

1. Children and young people can be involved in the development of services through Mind of My Own (MOMO).
   
   In Buckinghamshire, the Children in Care Council is called 'We Do Care'. They are a group of children and young people who are either looked after or care leavers and work to ensure looked after children and care leavers have their voices listened to and promote their right to be part of the decision making process that affect their lives.
   
   We Do Care consists of a junior's (5 – 11 years) and a seniors (12+ years) for those in care and care leavers. We Do Care juniors and We Do Care seniors provide regular opportunities; for children and young people to voice their opinions, suggest changes and improvements to the care system and other services.
   
   Focus Groups - These sessions are for young people to look at important things that are happening in the looked after community, monitor the other projects we do and look at new opportunities for looked after children and young people to have their say.
   
   Campaign work - We Do Care campaigns look at different areas of service that looked after children and young people feel needs changing. They look at the things that we feel are not working as well as they could be and then make recommendations for changing these things. Children and young people's views are fed back to key stakeholders and reported back at the Corporate Parenting Panel.
   
   WDC juniors and seniors also do a wide range of other work and projects, these include:
   
   Training - Various accredited training is offered to support young people develop skills and support them into employment. Examples of this include first aid training, food hygiene certificates, interview training and the Youth Service traineeship programme.
   
   Interview Panels - These are paid opportunities for children and young people to get involved in the process for recruiting professionals working with children and young people. Training is on offer for those young people who want to develop skills linked to decision making and employability and have a direct say on who gets employed to work with children and young people.
   
   Consultation Exercises - Discreet pieces of consultation work to include the voice of children and young people in care and care leavers in service development and evaluation.
   
   Group Work - Youth workers deliver group sessions within care homes and semi-independent accommodation to give more children and young people in care and care leavers a chance to get their voices heard.
   
   Approach - Children and young people lead the We Do Care priorities timetabled over the course of the year. Key We Do Care messages are reported to the Corporate Parenting Panel and also to other relevant officers.
   
   Children and young people can also be involved in:
   
   
   1. Recruitment
      
      There are different methods and models for including children and young people in recruitment and selection. The two most common are:
      • A parallel young people's panel - This method is applicable across a wide range of settings, using a separate young person's panel running parallel to an adult panel, which on completion of interviews feeds back their recommendations to the adult panel. This creates a unique opportunity for children and young people to plan, organise and facilitate their own involvement. They can have a lot of control over the format of the interview and their role within it;
      • Mixed adult and young people panel - This usually involves one young person sitting alongside adults on a formal interview panel. The young person's weighting or influence on the decision may vary according to the type of post and the level of knowledge needed to assess different aspects of the person specification (e.g. strategic planning and financial management versus knowledge of young people's issues and experience of working with children and young people).
        
        
   2. Mentoring
      
      Buckinghamshire Youth is a joined up approach between three local young people's providers, (BCC Youth Service, Connexions Buckinghamshire and Action4Youth). Buckinghamshire Youth is a referral based service for young people aged 11-19 years or up to 25 for those with SEND and is part of the Early Help strategy in Bucks, working with young people at an early stage before issues escalate to a level where specialist support may be required but also supporting young people who have received a specialist intervention to provide a safety net to enable them to move forward once this specialist work is completed. Young people referred to Buckinghamshire Youth are provided with a package of support which can include:
      • Intensive Mentoring Support - One to One Support provides a safe space for young people to explore and work on a range of issues to improve their emotional well-being and increase their resilience to common life problems;
      • Mentor Support - Buckinghamshire Youth also offers mentor support a less intensive version of support from the intensive support described above. Volunteer mentors provide support for young people to overcome issues or barriers and focus and direction to succeed. For example support for young people linked to confidence or work around motivation for those at risk of disengaging. This mentoring support is delivered by Adviza and commissioned by BCC Youth Service as part of the Bucks Youth partnership;
      • We Do Care Young People's Champions - The role for young people who have experience of the care system is a paid one and also provides a qualification and opportunities for a young person to develop skills including those relevant for a young person looking to progress in a health and social care role. The champions attend the Corporate Parenting Panel and are the link between children looked after and care leavers and other services as well as taking an active role in driving the We Do Care work plan and recruiting new young people;
      • E-Safety Young People's Ambassadors - The E-Safety Young People's Ambassador programme is delivered by Buckinghamshire County Council Youth Service and is designed to enable young people to present the e-safety message to other year groups within the school, or to partner schools in the area.
        
        
   3. Training
      
      Youth Service provides various accredited training to support young people develop skills and support them into employment. Examples of this include first aid training, food hygiene certificates, interview training and the Youth Service traineeship programme.
      
      
   4. Other
      
      The Youth Service train young people to take part in commissioning processes for children and young people's services.
2. Looked After Reviews and other Meetings (see Looked After Reviews Procedure).
   
   Every Review and/or meeting relating to a child's case is an opportunity for children and young people to participate in their Care Plan and arrangements;
   
   
3. Advocacy and Independent Visitors (see Advocacy and Independent Visitors Procedure).
   
   Advocates and Independent Visitors support and assist children and young people to participate in the services offered;
   
   
4. Support to children who have communication difficulties see also Children and Young People Aged 0-25 with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Procedure.
   
   Support and specialist services to children who have communication difficulties will always be offered. For children for whom English is not their first language a translator should be considered to enable the child to contribute. For children with communication difficulties as a result of physical or learning disabilities people who can use whatever medium of communication is most helpful to the child will be used;
   
   
5. Social media.
   
   Increasingly children and young people are becoming confident users of social media such as Facebook, texting, Twitter and other apps. We see this as an opportunity for enabling children and young people to participate in decisions about their life whether by texting their IRO or by using social media applications.
   
   
6. Local system used to gather views.
   
   Online Youth Voice community on Instagram young people encouraged to get involved and give their views on different campaigns and kept up to date with progress of other Youth Voice work.

Mind of My Own is an online participation tool designed to help children/young people to share their views with practitioners allowing views to be heard and listened to. Mind of My Own is available to all C/YP to use with their practitioner or independently.

Better care happens when C/YP people are better understood and listened to. Mind of My Own makes it easier for C/YP to communicate with practitioners using words or emoji's which best represent their feelings and wishes.

C/YP can create statements relating to specific events:

• Worker visit;
• Preparation for a meeting;
• CP Conference;
• Change;
• Problem;
• Share good news;
• Foster Carer review;
• Pathway planning.

Mind of My Own is not intended to replace direct work or communication but is a helpful starting point in understanding what matters to C/YP. C/YP can create and send statements through the app directly to a professional of their choice at any time, using any device with internet access - smart phone, tablet, Xbox or computer.

C/YP can send statements to:

• CP Chair;
• Social Worker;
• IRO;
• Personal Advisor;
• Youth Worker;
• SEN Officer;
• Complaints Officer;
• Virtual School Teacher.

The advantages of Mind of My Own for practitioners: allows for easier conversations, better evidence, saves time and ensures better understanding leads to better relationships.

See the Mind of My Own process for creating an account and introducing to C/YP.