Abstract:

There are a number of common barriers that exist in child and family services, regardless of service type, that prevent vulnerable children and young people from being heard. Our research examined the value of cross-sector practitioner training to address these barriers. Cross-sectoral training provides opportunity for the cross fertilisation of ideas on how other services are dealing with similar issues. Another unique element of this training was the inclusion of the ideas of young people themselves on what is needed for them to be heard within the service context. When practitioners are offered theory, time, tools and guidance, to apply knowledge about children’s participation to their specific work context, they identify common underlying issues in management, policy and practice that they can address to ensure young people are heard in their service.

In this presentation, we will describe our cross-sectoral training with practitioners which gives focus to supporting their engagement of children and young people in policy debate and service decision making. Evaluation of this training suggests that practitioners benefit from the training in two ways: it increases staff confidence in what they know about children’s participation; practitioners can identify creative and practical strategies that suit the specificity of their workplace culture and nature of service delivery. These are meaningful outcomes that increase the capacity of the service system to support children’s participation and wellbeing.