Dudley Borough Children and Young People’s Participation Strategy

Working together to provide children and young people with the opportunity to influence decisions that affect them

IntroductionWe are required by law to promote and protect children’s rights. The law also requires us to involve children and young people in our work. This is in accordance with Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) which sets out children and young people’s right for their views to be listened to and taken seriously in the decisions that affect their lives.

It is therefore vital that we have effective ways of engaging and involving children and young people in our work, to ensure their views and experiences inform and influence what we do and what we say, to help improve their lives. Several Boards in Dudley have made this a priority and are working together to ensure the voice of the child and young person is heard loud and clear. They are the Health and Wellbeing Board, Children’s Alliance and Dudley Safeguarding Children Board.

Dudley’s Health and Wellbeing Board - Its primary role is to provide leadership. Using local evidence, it works to help identify the needs of local residents, improve efficiency and secure better care to improve health and wellbeing and tackle health inequalities across the borough.

The board brings together Dudley Council, Dudley Clinical Commissioning Group, Healthwatch Dudley, the NHS Commissioning Board and partners in the voluntary and community sectors. It has developed a Health and Wellbeing Strategy setting out the priorities the board has agreed to tackle to improve the health and wellbeing of people living and working in Dudley. 

These priorities and the future planning of services across the borough are determined from evidence collated in the borough’s Joint Strategic Needs Assessment. See below.

The key action areas for 2015/16 are: 

The Integration of health and care services to improve effectiveness and patient experience for the frail elderly, and children and young people aged 0-25

To work with a local community to develop a Wellbeing Compact focusing on factors that keep people healthy and well

To be an advocate for children and young people’s health and wellbeing, commissioning a youth health champions programme and young people’s engagement festival event. 

Dudley’s Children and Young People’s Alliance Board

Dudley Children and Young People Alliance Board provides the leadership and integrated accountability for delivery of improved outcomes for children and young people in Dudley, and their effective transition to adulthood. It is the overall Alliance between all those agencies who play a part in improving outcomes for children and young people in the borough.

The Vision of the Alliance is that Dudley is a place where children and young people thrive.

In partnership with children and young people in the borough, it has developed the Dudley Deal for Children and Young People which sets out through a set of principles and actions how organisations working with children and young people will work towards achieving the Vision. The key principles are that those organisations will:

Raise children and young people’s aspirations and create opportunities for them to achieve Enable children and young people to have a voice Work with children and young people to keep them safe and healthy Work with children and young people when they need extra help to ensure they get the help they need.

The Board will ensure that organisations use these key principles to address the 5 main themes for children and young people identified by the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment:

Poverty Emotional health and wellbeing Keeping safe Educational attainment Obesity

Dudley Safeguarding Children Board

The Dudley Safeguarding Children Board (DSCB) is the key statutory mechanism for agreeing how relevant organisations will co-operate and work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people in Dudley and for ensuring the effectiveness of what they do. The board is made up of senior representatives from a range of organisations from the statutory and voluntary sector. The DSCB is not accountable for operational work, but holds partners to account on the effectiveness of their safeguarding services for Dudley’s children and young people.

Priorities for 2015 – 2016 are as follows:

Children and young people are safe from harm in the home, outside the home and onlineChildren and young people have access to the right service in the right place at the right time

Effective partnership working and accountability to improve safeguarding outcomes for children, young people and their families

This Children and Young People’s Participation Strategy sets out how we implement our legal duty.

We will do this by listening to what children and young people say about things that affect them and encouraging adults making decisions to take their views and interests into account.

We will publish evidence, including that which we collect directly from children and young people, bringing matters that affect their rights to the attention of decision makers, the media, children and young people presenting themselves, and other stakeholders.

Our vision

Dudley is a borough where children and young people’s rights are realised, where their views shape decisions made about their lives and those of their families.

Our mission

We will promote and protect the rights of children in Dudley. We will do this by involving children and young people in our work and ensuring their voices are heard. We will use our statutory powers to undertake inquiries, and our position to engage, advise and influence those making decisions that affect children and young people.

What do we mean by participation?

A culture of participation is the way participation is embodied in an organisation. It considers:

The values that underpin participatory practice The reasons for involving children and young people When and how participation is used The extent to which children and young people are listened to and appropriate action taken

Meaningful participation creates an environment where the voices of children and young people are listened to different and creative ways, it is where participation in any organisation becomes the norm and where the responsibility for the engagement of young people is assumed by all rather than one named individual.

Who benefits from participation?

Effective participation benefits everyone! It improves decisions affecting children and young people and helps them to develop confidence and skills and build valuable social bonds. It develops children and young people’s sense of their own rights and responsibilities as citizens, helping to counter anti-social behaviour and promote a commitment to society and its institutions. Successful participation can also benefit communities, promoting social cohesion and a more positive view of children and young people. For services, it is one of the keys to ensuring they meet the needs of children and young people, are well used by them and as a result are able to demonstrate improved outcomes.

Ethics and safeguarding the rights of the child

The health, wellbeing and safety of the children and young people who participate is paramount. We will take the utmost care to ensure that children and young people feel protected and supported when engaged in participatory activity. We recognise the potential for risk or harm arising from any participation work and will strive to prevent this from occurring.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child includes safeguards for the participation of children and young people under relevant articles listed below. The Health and wellbeing Board, Children’s Alliance Board and Dudley Safeguarding Children’s Board will share these principles and will promote the use of them through practice learning events and training courses.

Promoting and protecting Article 3: Best interests of the childEngaging and involving children and young people will be of benefit to them Respecting the rights of children and young peopleAdopting reflective and reflexive practice and quality assurance ensuring the reliability and validity of work

Promoting and protecting Article 12: Respect for views of the childrenEnsuring children and young people will be heard and taken seriously enabling informed consent, voluntary participation and feedbackEnsuring children and young people’s voices and views are evident in our research methods and findings, and are disseminated effectively

Promoting and protecting Article 19: Protection from harmPromoting wellbeing, ensuring safety and avoiding harm

Promoting and protecting Article 16: Right to privacyExplaining and ensuring confidentiality and effective data storage and handling

Promoting and Protecting Article 2: Without discriminationRecognising and understanding diversity and promoting accessibility and equality

In taking forward the above.We should continue to understand that not all children and young people are or want to be a part of ‘formal’ participation or ‘voice’

group but their views and experiences should be sought and listened to in other ways in line with Article 12. This may be through one to one conversations, creative projects, or research projects that use a multi method approach. The latter might include engaging with parent/carers and support workers or observational work.

Drafted by Nicki Burrows (DCVS) 19th November 2015

Health and Wellbeing Board

Children’s Alliance Dudley Safeguarding Children’s Board

Borough wide youth participation strategy to include the priorities of the Health and Wellbeing Board, Children’s Alliance and Dudley Safeguarding Children’s Board

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Operations Group: To include mix of strategic and operational staff and input from young people

Children and Young People

Communication and Engagement Group

To act as a Strategic Clearing House