Children's Consultation and Voice and Influence

1. Introduction

Children and young people’s voice and influence 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;
• Communication skills;
• Financial resources;
• Commitment to developing services which support children's voice and influence, such as advocacy services and Voice and Influence groups;
• 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. This is in line with Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) that children have the right to:

1. Express their views, wishes and feelings in all matters affecting them; and
2. Have their views, wishes and feelings be given due weight in accordance with their age and maturity.

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.

The Local Authority seeks to ensure that children’s views are understood and taken into account as part of ensuring that their rights and entitlements are met.

Children, including those who communicate non-verbally, are supported to actively participate in decisions about their lives. They will be sensitively helped to understand when it may not be possible to act on their wishes and why other action is taken that is in their best interests. Children have access to, and are actively encouraged to involve, an independent advocate and, where appropriate, an independent visitor (See Advocacy and Independant Visitors Procedure).

Children can identify a trusted adult who they can talk to about any concerns, who will listen to them, take their concerns seriously and respond appropriately.

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 service developments.

2. Benefits of Voice and Influence

Much has been written on the benefits and barriers to voice and influence 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 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 voice and influence 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;
• The greater likelihood of effective engagement with the Plan by the child / young person themselves;
• Providing a focus for all professionals around the child to work from;
• Giving the service an understanding of how well they are doing and what they need to improve upon (a tool for self-audit).

3. Barriers to Voice and Influence

There are a number of barriers to Voice and Influence. Broadly speaking these are:

• Structural - complex procedures and lack of clarity about responsibilities; too many changes of personnel;
• A lack of clarity about what Voice and Influence 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 Voice and Influence, thus 'rushing' or making it a 'box ticking' exercise;
• Inadequate plans that fail to be clear about who will be responsible for ensuring Voice and Influence;
• 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 Voice and Influence available to them (i.e. seeing children on their own, allowing time after traumatic events).

4. Promoting Voice and Influence

The Local Authority has a number of formal processes for seeking the Voice and Influence 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. Voice and Influence - the Role of the Social Worker

The most important means of encouraging and enabling Voice and Influence by children and young people in our care 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 line with the Children and Families Voice and Influence Strategy, the influence of children and families feedback should be communicated back to them following planned consultations (this process is called You Said, We Did).

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.

The Local Authority uses the Signs of Safety approach to social work practice, which utilises a number of direct work tools to help gather the views of children and young people. These tools can be found in Local Resources, Signs of Safety.

The Local Authority has invested in the Viewpoint app and weblink for children and young people to have their say about the things that are important to them. Their Social Worker plays a vital role in reminding young people of this opportunity to have their voice heard prior to their Looked After review and helping them understand why this is important (see Viewpoint information for RCBC Staff in Local Resources).

If Voice and Influence 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). 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. Children and young people are also entitled to an independent advocate if they wish to have one. More information about advocacy can be found at the National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS).

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.

6. Voice and Influence - 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 Voice and Influence 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. Voice and Influence – the Role of the Independent Reviewing Officer

A core responsibility of the Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) with regard to Children in Care is to "ensure that any ascertained wishes and feelings of the child concerning the case are given due consideration by the appropriate authority". In order to achieve this, the IRO will contact the child before their review to ensure that the young person's views are fully understood and considered.

The IRO plays a vital role in reminding young people about the Viewpoint app and weblink, which is an opportunity for children and young people to have their say about the things that are important to them (see Viewpoint information for RCBC Staff in Local Resources). The IRO will make sure that where young people submit their views using Viewpoint, or in any other way, their reviews contribute to their Looked After Child review. See local information in Local Resources.

8. Processes for Consulting Children and Young People

Children and young people can be involved in the development of services through the Children in Our Care Council (CIOCC).

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council will listen to, consult with, encourage and support the Children in Our Care Council by:

• Encouraging children and young people to become members of the Children in Our Care Council;
• Providing members of the Children in Our Care Council with relevant training;
• Circulating information to the Children in Our Care Council about conferences and events on specific issues and offering encouragement and support to attend;
• Involving the Children in Our Care Council to undertake research with children and young people on specific issues using questionnaires, one to one interviews and group work.

Regional and National

We will develop regional and national links to improve outcomes for young people by:

• Informing and supporting young people to take part in regional or national consultations, events and activities;
• Rewarding young people who represent others from Children in Our Care and Leaving care at local and national events;
• Providing timely, concise and clear feedback to young people who have taken part in consultation and events;
• Supporting young people to complete questionnaires and review documents from organisations e.g. Ofsted.

Children and young people can also be involved in:

1. Recruitment;
2. Mentoring;
3. Training.

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 have their voice heard in relation to their Care Plan and arrangements. Children and young people can choose how they would like to have their say in their meeting. Opportunities include taking part in the meeting themselves, asking someone else to speak on their behalf and/or using the Viewpoint app or weblink to give their views prior to the meeting (see Viewpoint information for RCBC Staff in Local Resources).

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.

Support to children who have communication difficulties see also Children and Young People Aged 0-25 with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Procedure.

Social Media

Increasingly children and young people are becoming confident users of social media such as Facebook, texting, X (formally known as 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.

9. Related Guidance

Legislation, Statutory Guidance and Government Non-Statutory Guidance

SEND complaints: guide for young people aged 16 to 25 in education - A guide for young people on how to resolve special education needs and disability (SEND) disagreements.

Useful Websites

IRISS: Frameworks for child participation in social care - An article which provides some interesting evidence based on research completed into children's participation.

Council for Disabled Children - Provides useful resources for disabled children and young people.

NDTi - Works with children/young people and communities to influence change in the community in terms of inclusion. Particularly relevant to transitions.