If we asked you the question “what does participation mean to you?”
then we would probably get a thousand different answers!
So we
thought we had better explain what we think "Young People’s
Participation" is about!
Youth Participation is a phrase that is often used but it is often not used properly!
We think that there is a world of difference between consultation (asking young people what they think) and real, meaningful youth participation (young people getting involved in making decisions.)
For instance we would like more of you to be involved in your review
meetings — this might mean going along to them or it might mean making sure
that the other people who go to them know what you think and what
you would like to happen (see viewpoint for more information about this.)
So we have provided a few pages to explain a little more about this subject.
The Early Intervention and Safeguarding Department (social services) have produced a strategy to tell people how they plan to improve young people's participation. You can see the strategy by clicking here.
The strategy is a written document that everyone who works in children's social services has said they will work towards and every team has given a "pledge" (just like a promise) to make improvements in certain areas.
We will be putting more information about this on the website (and in the newsletters) soon - so keep an eye out for it.
