Children's & Young Peoples Consultation and Participation

1. Introduction

Participation of C&YP in decisions about their lives is an essential part of growing up and if delivered correctly it enhances C&YP’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 delivered correctly it requires a commitment at all levels of an organisation to reflect on and promote:

• Positive attitudes to C&YP;
• Skills in communicating;
• Financial resources;
• Commitment to developing services which support C&YP’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 co-produce and/or change existing services and decisions in response to C&YP’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 practice 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 McAllister Report also makes clear the importance of prioritising the voices of care experienced C&YP.

In 2023 children and young people reviewed the local participation strategy (co-produced with the local authority in 2021) Children & Young Peoples Participation Strategy 2023-2026, this strategy outlines when, where and how they want to engage with participation work, this includes the correct venue, language and mediums, and providing the right support. This strategy outlines how the council will work together with children and young people in Blackburn with Darwen to improve what is available for them.

C&YP have told us what works well, what can work better and how they prefer to be worked with. 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 C&YP and adults.

In 2021 the Local Authority produced a Children and Young Peoples Voice Impact Tool with accompanying guidance for professionals.

In addition, the Local Authority will ensure that systems are in place to support formal consultation with C&YP’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.

The Participation Strategic Framework governs participation activity for a period of three years and the delivery of the participation priorities are reviewed annually.

Each service is required to nominate a participation champion, whose responsibility is to facilitate participation activity in their service area. This activity is reported through the Youth Voice Impact Tools, through Microsoft forms, and reviewed by the Participation Steering Group. Significant participation activity is also reported to Children’s Partnership Board, the Corporate Parenting Specialist Advisory Group and Corporate Parenting Executive boards and Children and Young People's Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

External validation of participation activity can also be sought through the 'Investing in Children Membership Award' scheme and services can have their award reassessed annually. This award can only be achieved if children agree the service deserves the award.

In 2022, a Young Inspectors programme was developed and introduced.  This programme was co-produced with young people from across the Strategic Youth Alliance (SYA). Young people have been trained as Young Inspectors and have subsequently developed a training programme to develop more Young Inspectors across the borough. The C&YP have been supported in carrying out a pilot inspection within Adolescent Services. This programme will be offered across the council and its partners. Young people from BwD will assess the services they access and receive and provide constructive feedback and suggestions for the organisation or service to embed which will result in a BwD Young Inspectors kite mark achievement. The Young Inspectors will then return 6 months following the inspections to see whether the recommendations and changes have been embedded.

In October 2023, Children's Services worked alongside consultant Rachel Prest - who has explored all areas of the Children's Services participation offer and shared innovative practice and will work through and action any recommendations in early 2024 and update this document accordingly.

2. Benefits of Participation

Much has been written on the benefits and barriers to participation in matters that affect C&YP.

In brief the benefits 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 C&YP’s views about what has happened and what they want to change;
• A model of communicating that may improve their relationship with their C&YP.

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

• Reinforcement of a focus on the C&YP’s safety and wellbeing;
• A self-auditing tool;
• The greater likelihood of effective engagement with the Plan by the C/YP themselves;
• A focus for all professionals to work towards.

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 C&YP, 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;
• C&YP’s behaviour - can be misinterpreted and sometimes creates 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;
• C/YP themselves can become disinterested and disengaged because of delays;
• C/YP are far more spontaneous and their timescales are far shorter;
• Professionals need to ensure that C&YP have a variety of times, people, places and approaches to participation available to them (i.e. seeing C&YP 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 C&YP. Staff, carers, managers and others who come into contact with C&YP are encouraged and enabled to see each and every interaction as a potential opportunity to develop trust and confidence such that C&YP 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 C&YP 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 C&YP are given every opportunity to express their views. See Corporate Parenting Strategy 2021-2024 for more details.

In order for them to express views about matters that affect them it is also vital that C&YP 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 for C&YP to make a comment and express their views. C&YP should also be informed about the right to access an advocate, to support them in challenging decisions that they may not agree with.

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 C&YP’s wishes, they should be informed of the decision and the reasons for the decision should be explained. In these circumstances, the C/YP should be informed of any rights they have to formally challenge the decision, and of the availability of the Complaints or Grievance Procedure.

Sometimes C&YP express their preferences through their behaviour rather than through words i.e. by running away or becoming dysregulated. It is important to attempt to see beyond the behaviour and to try to see what the C/YP is trying to express. (Note: that where C/YP have returned home from having run away, the 'return' interviews should be conducted by an independent person or person specified by the C/YP who has been trained to undertake this. See Pan-Lancashire Joint Protocol, Children and young people who run away or go missing from home or care

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 C&YP.

Managers should:

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

7. Processes for Consulting Children and Young People

• C&YP can be involved in the development of services through the Children in Care Council
  
  Voice forums.
  
  The Voice group is the name of the Children in Care Council and it meets weekly to facilitate activities and projects to influence the development of services. The Voice groups are led by Young Peoples Services and supported by colleagues from Fostering, CIOC and Leaving Care. There is also a Care Leavers Focus Group. Members of these groups are invited to attend the Corporate Parenting Committee Specialist Advisory Group and Executive Boards and the Children and Young People's Overview and Scrutiny Committee, to challenge services and present any consultation findings. A care leaver was elected as Deputy Chair of the Corporate Parenting Board;
• C&YP can also be involved in:
  1. Recruitment and training. C&YP are provided with interviewing skills to equip them with the necessary skills to undertake this effectively;
  2. Mentoring, including peer mentoring by care leavers;
  3. Training - for example delivery of the 'Total Respect' children's rights programme to councillors, carers and practitioners from various services and agencies;
  4. Strategic projects with other participation groups, including the Youth Forum, regional Children In Care Council meetings.
• Looked After Children Reviews and other Meetings (see Looked After Reviews Procedure);
  
  Every Review and/or meeting relating to a C&YP’s case is an opportunity for C&YP to participate in their Care Plan and arrangements.
• Advocacy and Independent Visitors (see Advocacy and Independent Visitors Procedure);
  
  Advocates and Independent Visitors support and assist C&YP to participate in the services offered.
• Support to C&YP who have communication difficulties see also Children and Young People Aged 0-25 with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Procedure;
• YPS actively support national consultation programmes and encourage children and young people to participate to ensure their voice is included in wider initiatives that affect them;
• Support and specialist services to C&YP who have communication difficulties will always be offered. For C&YP 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 C&YP will be used;
• Social media:
  Increasingly C&YP are becoming confident users of social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, WhatsApp, 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. Services are being encouraged to consider the use of social media, as a means of children's participation in decision making.