Walsall Children’s Trust places an extremely high value on the involvement of children, young people, their families and carers. We believe that active involvement is about providing choices and opportunities for children and young people to have an input into decisions that affect their lives. It is about talking, listening to and hearing service users, encouraging and supporting them to contribute, and acting on their views and ideas whilst being open, honest and realistic with them on the levels of involvement they can have.
All children and young people must be given the opportunity to participate in consultation and decision-making processes, particularly those who are often difficult to engage or vulnerable.
The term ‘active involvement’ covers many forms of children and young people’s participation in decision making. From being given information, being listened to or being consulted, to being directly involved in decision making in partnership with the adults who would normally make the decisions themselves. In Walsall we believe that excellent active involvement has an integral part to play in all services and must be embedded into all services and processes.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) states that children and young people have the right to freely express their views in all matters affecting them. All providers of services have a responsibility to ensure that the views of their service users are actively sought, listened to and acted upon. It is our responsibility to ensure we give children and young people a voice, enabling them to be heard and supporting them to participate.
There are many benefits of actively involving children and young people, of which the following are a few.
Hear by Right Book, Revised Edition 2008
User Feedback and Consultation Support Officer
Walsall Children's Trust Support Team
Room Five
Council House
Lichfield Street
Walsall
WS1 1TW
Telephone 01922 652362
Email cyptrust@walsall.gov.uk
This page was last updated on 19 March 2010