Children and Young People's Participation Strategy

The Children and Young People's Participation Strategy (PDF, File not found) incorporates a vision and framework for the participation of children and young people in decision making.

Involvement in decisions that affect their lives is a fundamental right for all children. The strategy enhances opportunities for a child or young person to overcome barriers and have a voice.

The strategy was developed with input from external stakeholders, including consultation with young people selected by the CREATE Foundation and young people involved with the Out Loud group in Townsville.

Listening, hearing and acting

Approaches to the participation of children and young people in decision making - a review of the literature

In May 2006, the department commissioned a review of relevant work of other Australian jurisdictions, literature and research to identify models of engagement and participation that have been demonstrated to be successful in relation to:

  • case planning and ongoing intervention
  • provision of feedback on service delivery
  • engagement in service planning processes
  • engagement in the development of policy and procedures
  • collecting data about participation for evaluation and service review processes
  • models of peer to peer research and facilitation.

The commissioning brief highlighted the requirement to identify where models are appropriate or specific to particular age groups or subsets of children and young people within the service system including those who are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, those from culturally diverse backgrounds and those with disabilities.

The paper Listening, hearing and acting (PDF, 999 KB) reports on the outcomes of the literature review.

Below are a list of the useful websites and tool kits identified in the review.

Websites

Tool kits

Barnardos (United Kingdom)

Children's Rights Alliance for England

  • Total Respect Training - an award winning training resource delivered by care experienced trainers, it supports the full implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Ministry of Social Development (New Zealand)

National Youth Council of Ireland

  • Hearing young voices (2003) - guidelines for consulting with children and young people in relation to developing public policy and services. Available for download.