Involving children and young people in developing social care

• What 'culture' meansOpen

  Culture refers to the ethos of an organisation. A culture of participation should demonstrate a commitment to the involvement of children and young people - shared by managers, practitioners, children and young people.

• Why culture is importantOpen

  Culture has frequently been identified as a barrier to participation. As Davies and Marken (1998) suggest 'our popular and official culture in deeply embedded ways defines young people as too uninformed, unreliable and untrustworthy to carry responsibility.'

  There is a fear that somehow children are going to ask for terribly wrong things or say the wrong thing. On the one hand, you want to give them a voice, but on the other hand, you don't want them to say anything that goes against what the organisation believes in.

  Practitioner

  This issue may be particularly relevant for staff in health and social welfare services who have a statutory responsibility to safeguard children. In this context, the vulnerability - rather than the capacity and resilience of children and young people - may be emphasised. Hill et al (2004) suggest that one of the foremost barriers to participation is 'adults' perceptions, including their images of children's capacities, and their self-interest in maintaining their own position with respect to children'.

  Traditionally social workers go into social work because they want to care and feel valued and depended upon. They have a notion that a service user is a client and they are professionals, rather than that they are entering into a partnership with them.

  Practitioner

  The challenge is to strike a balance between implementing a children's rights perspective, including the right to be heard and listened to, while continuing to offer appropriate care and protection. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) acknowledges the need for this balance by granting children the right to be protected as well as the right to participate (Hutton, 2004).

  A growing body of literature also refers to the 'culture of disaffection' that exists among children and young people due to the 'government's failure to respond to their specific needs and by policies which have eroded rights which they have previously held' (Lansdown, 2001). Adults need to acknowledge that these feelings of disillusionment exist before they can move forward and develop a positive culture of participation within their organisations.

  Increasing numbers of participation guides now acknowledge culture not just as a barrier but as a legitimate area for service development. This is reflected in the NSW Commission for Children and Young People's Guidance on Participation (2004), which states that 'for participation to be effective, it needs to be part of the belief system of the organisation.' A recent mapping of children and young people's participation in England (Oldfield and Fowler, 2004) found that, where respondents strongly agree that children and young people have a right to participate, they were more likely to acknowledge that children and young people 'have a great deal of influence in their organisation'. This finding suggests that, in many cases, an organisation's positive attitude and commitment towards the involvement of children and young people may, in turn, lead to participation that will effect greater change within that organisation.

• Developing a culture of participationOpen

  Participative cultures develop differently in different organisations, depending on where they are in the process of instigating participation, how they intend to involve children and young people and their current cultural climate. For this reason, the development of a participative culture is not a static concept; it is something that changes over time depending on the nature of an organisation's work.

  Rather than providing a rigid framework that all organisations must follow in the same way, this guide discusses what needs to be considered when developing a culture of participation.

  Establishing a shared understanding of participation

  To create a culture of participation, managers, practitioners, children and young people need to have a shared understanding of participation and what this means for social care services. To achieve this, they need to have a clear understanding about what participation means to them and the potential impact it could have. As Treseder (1997) states: 'Many attempts to involve children and young people end in frustration precisely because the implications of empowerment are not properly considered from the start.'

  Developing a culture of participation should therefore involve discussion between practitioners, managers, children and young people on:

  • defining participation
  • understanding why participation is important
  • understanding current organisational culture.

  Defining participation

  A lack of understanding about participation would undermine any potential work.

  Practitioner

  Participation has become a 'buzz word' in children and young people's organisations, but definitions of it vary from organisation to organisation. It can be a confusing task to identify a shared understanding of participation, especially when organisational definitions often differ from those offered by partner agencies or funders. A definition of participation should help clarify what an organisation is trying to achieve by developing participation. As Save the Children and the Children's Rights Office (1997) collectively state:

  If an organisation chooses to encourage participation, colleagues must first agree on aims, objectives and accepted outcomes, and everyone must understand how far children will be involved in the decision-making process. Failure to establish these fundamentals will almost certainly lead to failure of the overall project.

  In clarifying these aims and objectives, the organisation should identify what will be achieved or changed, for whom, when, how and by whom. An effective definition of participation will therefore encompass an understanding of participation as an activity and as a process that aims to achieve positive outcomes for children, young people and organisations.

  Issues to consider when developing an organisational definition of participation, as identified by practitioners

  • Is the definition relevant to everyone - that is, to both young people and adults - at all levels within the organisation?
  • What is the definition seeking to encapsulate - participation as a theory, process and/or model?
  • How will the definition be shared and evidenced throughout the organisation's policy and practice?

  Although the process of establishing a shared definition of participation can be challenging, once it has been identified, an organisation can benefit from a consistent understanding of participation that enables the development of a shared set of values.

  Understanding why participation is important

  To make an informed decision about whether or not to commit to participation, adults, children and young people need to understand why participation should be integral to the organisation. This can be achieved by:

  • becoming aware of the legislative requirements of participation: Both staff, children and young people should know about relevant guidance about participation, including guidance on legislation and from government departments/initiatives and regional objectives relating to participation.
  • understanding the benefits of participation: Information regarding the benefits of participation for the organisation and for children and young people will also provide evidence of why participation is important. As Kirby et al (2003) state, the fact that 'participation is part of international law or public policy is not always enough to convince those who work with children and young people to engage in this work.'

  Practitioners and young people have identified a number of benefits of participation:

  Benefits for young people

  • Learn new skills and gain experience
  • Enjoyment
  • Develop self-confidence
  • Opportunity to influence decisions that affect their lives
  • Opportunity to develop social networks
  • Feel valued and empowered
  • Opportunity to develop better understanding of how organisations operate and make decisions.

  Benefits for the organisation

  • Services become more responsive to the needs of children and young people
  • Can begin to challenge presumptions about the needs of children and young people
  • Become more accessible to children and young people
  • Become more efficient as they are providing a more effective service for children and young people.

  Understanding why participation is important

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  Understanding current organisational culture

  When people say that they have worked for two years to get a lapel badge that says they are a member of a particular institution and then someone is telling them that a group of young people can make a decision equally to them, it puts their noses out of joint.

  Practitioner

  The barriers to participation include practitioners' concerns about its impact on their work. They may feel that their work will change or even that their jobs will be under threat. These concerns need to be acknowledged, discussed and repackaged so that all staff appreciate that children and young people's participation can increase staff skills, knowledge and job satisfaction. Practitioners often enter the social care field because they want to improve people's lives. Participative approaches are a way of ensuring that their work is based on what is important to children and young people.

  Children, young people and adults all need to understand the current decision-making processes within their organisation so that they can recognise where power currently lies and identify what may need to change. As Kirby et al (2003) suggest: 'Increasing children and young people's participation within organisations is a political process about shifting power relationships.' Integral to this is agreement between staff and young people about where the boundaries of the latter's involvement should be: which decisions and actions are actually open to change and to what extent young people can be involved in the whole process or part of it. The National Youth Agency (2004a) suggests that there are 12 'tough questions' that adults need to ask themselves when they are planning to develop participation within their organisation:

  1. What are we aiming to achieve?
  2. Where have we got to so far?
  3. What will children and young people get out of it?
  4. Are we prepared to resource it properly?
  5. Why have we not done it before?
  6. Are we prepared to involve children and young people from the start?
  7. Are we being honest with the children and young people?
  8. What are our expectations?
  9. Are we prepared to give up some power?
  10. Are we prepared to take some criticism?
  11. Do we recognise this as a long-term commitment?
  12. Are we prepared to build in changes long term and not just have a one-off event?

  By answering these questions, adults will help clarify both their current and their future commitment to participation and, as a result, identify how their culture needs to change and develop. Discussion about the structural and practical barriers to participation within the organisation may also enable managers and practitioners to identify what needs to be done to create a more effective culture for participation.

  Structural and practical barriers, as identified by practitioners

  • Lack of funds and/or resources
  • Adult decision-making structures that exclude young people - for example, formal board meetings during school hours
  • Lack of understanding about what participation means
  • Fear about developing new ways of working
  • Lack of knowledge about how to communicate effectively with young people
  • Lack of opportunities to work directly with young people and develop effective relationships.

  Understanding current organisational culture

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• Ensuring managers support the development of participationOpen

  There needs to be a clear lead from management so that there is a clear direction and all staff know that it is something that they all need to be doing.

  Practitioner

  The development of a culture of participation can encompass a great deal of change for organisations, particularly in terms of the redistribution of power in relation to decision-making processes. Hill et al (2004) suggest that there is a common view of children's rights as 'undermining adults' authority and rights, with a zero-sum assumption that transferring responsibility to children inevitably takes something away from adults'. The commitment of a manager can ensure that any resistance to this change is addressed and that practitioners are supported and encouraged during the process of transition.

  A mapping of children and young people's participation in England (Oldfield and Fowler, 2004) identified that the majority of both voluntary and statutory sector organisations believed that senior management commitment to participation was the most important action that organisations could take to promote children and young people's involvement. Managers play an important role in maintaining participation as a priority on an organisation's agenda and ensuring that it continues to be adequately resourced. Kirby et al (2003) emphasise that practitioners' commitment to participation is also essential in developing participative cultures and practices, given their day-to-day contact with children and young people.

  Developing a participation charter

  Many participation guides emphasise the importance of developing a charter or standards for participation on which the organisation's practice will be based. Cutler (2003) defines standards as 'public promises to give a specified quality or level of service'. In Oldfield and Fowler's mapping of participation in England (2004), two fifths of voluntary and statutory sector organisations had a written strategy or policy on involving children and young people. Robson, Begum and Lock's research into developing participation in voluntary organisations (2003) found that 'clear statements about involvement helped start debates or provided a standard against which progress could be measured.'

  Once a charter has been established, it should be agreed and signed by each child, young person and adult joining the organisation. Local partner agencies should also be encouraged to agree and sign it. Children and young people should take part in regular reviews of the charter, adapting or altering it as necessary. They are then more likely to be confident about sharing their principles and charter with other young people or agencies trying to establish and develop participation (Wright and Haydon, 2002).

  One of the conditions for taking funding is that partner agencies adopt the charter and incorporate it into the articles of their organisation and that they demonstrate that they have done that by the end of the funding period, so hopefully that's a way of breeding a culture of participation.

  Practitioner

  However, it is important that the process of developing a charter as part of building a participative culture is not viewed in isolation. For a charter to effect change, it needs to be understood in terms of its implications for organisational structure, practice and review. As Cutler (2003) summarises, standards or charters 'should be seen as only one part of a cycle of management and they need to be backed by resources, training, inspection and evaluation.' Cutler also suggests that there are six key issues that need to be addressed to ensure standards are effective:

  1. Standards need to be easy to understand, public and testable.
  2. The culture and type of organisation needs to be taken into account.
  3. Where possible, standards need to build on what is already in use.
  4. Failure to meet a standard must trigger action by the organisation.
  5. Standards need to link to real outcomes, not just what can be easily measured.
  6. Adequate resources need to be made available, including staff time and money for young people's active participation.

  Developing a participation charter

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  Developing a participation charter

  Click here for: Case study 1, Case study 2, Case study 9, Case study 11, Case study 12, Case study 13, Case study 15.

  Evidencing participation in organisational policies and documents

  Once a charter has been established, it is important that these principles are reflected throughout organisational documents and policies - for example, job descriptions, strategic plans, policy guidelines and practice manuals.

  I think there is an argument for writing a commitment to participation into everybody's job description in an organisation that works with children.

  Practitioner

  It prevents practitioners being able to argue against wanting to involve young people because they are arguing against the commitment that they've undertaken by taking the job.

  Practitioner

  The Children and Young People's Unit (2001) suggests that one of the key ways to demonstrate a visible commitment to participation is to refer to children and young people's involvement in all organisational policy and practice, including agreements with partner agencies.

  Evidencing participation in organisational policies and documents

  Click here for: Case study 1, Case study 2, Case study 3, Case study 5, Case study 6, Case study 7, Case study 8, Case study 9, Case study 13, Case study 15.

  Publicising commitment

  To demonstrate its commitment to participation and to encourage participatory practice, organisations should publicise how they involve children and young people (Wright and Haydon, 2002). By promoting their practice in this way, they not only demonstrate their commitment to participation to staff and potential partner agencies, but also to the children and young people who access their services.

  The young people interviewed for this guide suggested that organisations could produce young person-friendly leaflets and posters that demonstrate how children and young people have been involved, including pictures and quotes from young people themselves.

  Publicising commitment

  Click here for: Case study 5, Case study 6, Case study 8, Case study 10, Case study 13.