Children's Consultation and Participation

Keeping Children and Young People at the Centre: A Relational and Systemic Approach

Why Participation Matters

Children and young people have the right to be involved in decisions that affect their lives. Meaningful participation enhances their safety, well-being, and development. It also leads to better, more responsive services. In social care, where situations are often complex and emotionally charged, participation must be intentional, consistent, and supported at every level of the organisation.

Core Principles for Child-Centred Practice

To embed participation in a relational and systemic way, Havering commits to the following principles:

1. Positive Attitudes Toward Children
   • Recognise children as contributors to decisions that affect them;
   • Value their insights, experiences, and perspectives;
   • Promote a culture of respect, empathy, and trust.
2. Effective Communication
   • Use age-appropriate, accessible language;
   • Use creative and inclusive methods for children with communication needs, including non-verbal communication;
   • Prioritise active listening and ensure children feel heard and understood.
3. Resourcing Participation
   • Allocate financial and staffing resources to support participation;
   • Invest in advocacy services, participation workers, and training for staff;
   • Ensure access to independent advocates and visitors.
4. Honest and Transparent Engagement
   • Be clear about what can and cannot be changed;
   • Explain decisions in a way children can understand;
   • Acknowledge when their views influence outcomes-and when they do not, explain why.
5. Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
   • Consider identity, culture, language, disability, sexual orientation, and other factors in all interactions;
   • Tailor approaches to meet individual needs and reduce barriers to participation.

Practice Commitments

• Inform and Involve: Children and young people are kept informed about what is happening in their lives and are invited to contribute meaningfully.
• Trusted Relationships: Every child can identify a trusted adult who listens, takes concerns seriously, and responds appropriately.
• Recording and Accountability: Staff record children's views, how they influenced decisions, and provide clear explanations when decisions differ from their wishes.
• Support for Participation: Children are supported to understand their rights and are encouraged to access advocacy and independent visitor services.
• Systemic Feedback Loops: Havering Children's Services reflects feedback to identify trends and inform service development.

Organisational Culture and Leadership

• Leaders model and champion child-centred values;
• Participation is embedded in policies, supervision, and performance frameworks;
• Staff are trained and supported to develop relational skills and systemic thinking.

For Children and Young People

• Safe Reflection: A secure environment to process and reflect on their experiences;
• Voice: A chance to share their perspective and express their wishes for the future;
• Empowerment: Feeling valued and respected when their input influences decisions;
• Early Resolution: Timely attention to their concerns can improve their immediate well-being and quality of life;
• Clarity and Reassurance: Understanding what is happening now, what to expect, and how their safety will be ensured.

For Parents and Carers

• Insight into the Child's Experience: Hearing directly from their child may offer new understanding and empathy;
• Improved Communication: Observing respectful, open dialogue can model healthier ways to relate and communicate.

For Professionals and Organisations

• Child-Centred Focus: Reinforces the priority of the child's safety and well-being;
• Reflective Practice: Offers a way to critically review the effectiveness of engagement;
• Increased Engagement: Children are more likely to engage with plans they have helped shape;
• Consistent Multi-Agency Approach: Provides a shared focus and direction for all involved professionals.

Structural Barriers

• Complex Procedures: Bureaucratic systems can be difficult to navigate for both children and professionals;
• Lack of Role Clarity: Uncertainty about who is responsible for facilitating participation;
• Frequent Staff Changes: Disrupts continuity and trust-building with children and families.

Conceptual Barriers

• Unclear Definitions: Confusion about what participation means and how it should be implemented;
• Unrealistic Expectations: Lack of transparency about what participation can influence or change for the child, family, or organisation.

Competence Barriers

• Skill Gaps: Some staff may lack the experience or training to communicate effectively with children, especially those of different ages, cultures, or with additional needs.

Capacity Barriers

• Time Pressures: Overstretched staff may treat participation as a procedural task rather than a meaningful process;
• Resource Limitations: Insufficient tools, time, or support to enable genuine engagement.

Planning and Accountability Barriers

• Poor Planning: Participation is not embedded in care plans or clearly assigned to responsible individuals.

Behavioural and Emotional Barriers

• Misinterpreted Behaviour: Children's distress or trauma responses may be misunderstood as resistance;
• Need for Flexibility: Children require varied methods, settings, and timing to engage meaningfully-especially after traumatic events.

Engagement Barriers

• Disengagement Due to Delays: Long waits or lack of follow-up can lead to frustration and withdrawal;
• Different Timescales: Children often operate on more immediate timelines than professionals, requiring quicker, more responsive engagement.

Havering recognises that meaningful participation of children and young people is not limited to formal consultations or structured meetings. While there are established processes in place to seek their views-such as surveys, children in care forums, care planning meetings, and advocacy services: true participation is built through everyday interactions.

Participation as a Continuous Opportunity

All staff, carers, managers, and professionals who engage with children are encouraged to view every interaction as a potential opportunity to:

• Build trust and emotional safety;
• Encourage open communication;
• Support children to express their views, preferences, and concerns;
• Reinforce the message that their voice matters and can influence outcomes.

This approach helps children and young people feel respected, heard, and empowered, especially in situations where they may feel vulnerable or uncertain.

Creating a Culture of Learning

To support this, Havering promotes:

• Training and reflective supervision to build relational and communication skills;
• Time and space for meaningful conversations;
• Consistency and continuity in relationships to foster trust;
• Recognition of non-verbal communication and alternative ways children may express themselves.

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. These trusted relationships form the foundation for meaningful engagement, allowing children to feel safe, valued, and confident in expressing their views.

Supporting children and young people who have not previously had opportunities to express their views can be demanding and requires creativity, empathy, and resilience from professionals. It is not enough to ask once; consultations must be thoughtfully planned, reflected upon, and, when necessary, revisited to ensure that children are given every opportunity to share their thoughts and feelings. Participation is a process.

For children and young people to express informed views about matters that affect them, it is essential that they are provided with clear, age-appropriate information and experiences that help them understand their options.

When participation is not possible or is restricted for any reason, it is vital that children and young people are informed of decisions as soon as practicable. They should be given a clear explanation of the decision, along with the opportunity to comment or express their views. If, after hearing their perspective, it is felt that a different decision may be more appropriate, steps should be taken to reconsider the original decision.

In cases where decisions are made against a child or young person's wishes, they must be informed of the outcome and the reasons behind it. They should also be made aware of any rights they have to formally challenge the decision and be supported to access the Complaints Procedure, as outlined in the relevant policy.

Children and young people may not always express their preferences through words. Sometimes, their behaviour such as running away or dysregulated behaviour can be a form of communication. It is important for professionals to look beyond the behaviour and try to understand what the child is attempting to express. For example, when a child returns after running away, the return interview should be conducted by an independent, trained professional to ensure the child feels safe and supported in sharing their experience.

Finally, children and young people should be made aware of the systems and processes available to them if they wish to raise concerns or make a complaint. They should also be informed of any other forms of redress that may be available if things go wrong, ensuring they know their rights and feel empowered to use them.

• Ensure time and resources are available for social workers and staff to support meaningful participation;
• Use supervision to explore how the Voice of the Child is being considered in ongoing cases;
• Check case records to confirm:
  • How and where the child's views were sought;
  • What the child said;
  • How their views influenced decisions;
  • If not, why their views were not acted upon.
• Complete audits to keep participation of children under review;
• Regularly review the methods used to gather children's views to ensure they remain effective and inclusive;
• Review complaints and concerns raised by children and young people, and assess the actions taken in response;
• Review compliments to identify and reinforce good practice;
• Consider representativeness of issues raised in relation to gender, culture, sexuality, and disability;
• Ensure systems are in place to reflect on issues raised by children and young people for service development;
• Establish feedback mechanisms so that:
  • Individual children are informed of outcomes;
  • The wider group understands what changes have resulted from their input.

1. Children and young people can be involved in the development of services through the Children in Care Council (CiCC)
   
   
2. Children and young people can also be involved in:
   1. Recruitment
   2. Mentoring
   3. Training
3. Looked After Reviews and other Meetings (see Child in Care 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;
   
   
4. 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;
   
   
5. 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;
   
   
6. 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.

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.