Informing
Organisations give clear, early messages to the community about the opportunities for children, young people and their families/carers to participate and engage, the reasons for doing this and the skills, knowledge, diversity and experience needed, whether training is available and the accessibility of the engagement. At all stages participants are kept updated.
This can be done by presentations and talking to groups, one- to- one interviews, public meetings, networking events, user panels, on-line groups and written information in the form of leaflets or websites.
It is important to help children and young people feel that they are supported to be informed. Here are some further resources to download.
Discussions
Organisations carry out conversations when there is going to be a significant change to children and young people’s services, particularly if the changes have significant impact on children and young people’s ability to access or receive the benefits of the proposed change to services. A conversation makes sure that the voices of children and young people and their families are reflected in decisions being made about the proposed changes.
This can be done by:
- Citizens Jury
- Comments cards
- Skate Park Consultation
- Future Letter to Myself – write your future self a letter. Tell yourself how you are feeling right now, what life is like, and what you hope for yourself in the future.
- Dot voting
- Electronic voting
- Social media groups
- Surveys – Finding your voice
- Focus groups
- ‘Head, heart, bag and bin’
- World Café
- Public meetings
- Body Parts Game
- Networking events
- What’s Working Well and Even Better If….
- User panels
- Written information
- Feedback
- Helping Ourselves Activity
- Poster – Advice for young people by young people, top tips for working with children and young people with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND)
- Poster – Making it better together
Listening
Organisations have identified all the ways that children, young people and their families can become involved in looking at ways to improve services from networking events, customer satisfaction, staff recruitment, mystery shopping, contributing to strategy and policy and working on commissioning processes.
This can be done by:
- Icebreakers
- Desert Island Activity
- Recruitment process
- Citizens Jury
- Electronic voting, Mentimeter for example
- Displays and exhibitions
- Engagement events
- Dear Future Me
- Forums, user panels and focus groups
- Young Researchers
- Care planning (individual)
- Working alongside adults as equal partners
- Guide to Involving Children and Young People
- Emotional touchpoints
- Social media
- Head, heart, Bag, Bin
- Ketso
- One to one interviews
- Diaries or journals
- World Café or Speed networking
- Written information
- Student Voice The toolkit is intended for use with Key Stage 2 aged children to support them to conduct a research and action project in their school to make changes on things within their school or local community which matter to them.
- Future Letter to Myself – write your future self a letter. Tell yourself how you are feeling right now, what life is like, and what you hope for yourself in the future.
- Cost of Living Game – A game that looks at budgeting and the effects of inflation, and can be used as a conversation starter about the increasing cost of living and its impacts
- Game of Life – A large format on the floor board game (with optional desktop versions) around the theme of transitioning to adulthood. Throughout the game players will be asked questions on the topic of transitioning to adulthood that are open for discussion.
Doing it together (co-design and co-produce)
Organisations create an environment of trust and respect between the children, young people and their families and the services they use, which draws on personal experiences to be able to work together creatively and productively from start to finish. This gives an honest insight into the care and support they are receiving and lays a template for both individual care and service improvement. All views are equal, and all participants will be given the information they need to make informed decisions. Solutions are created, overseen and reviewed by the whole of the group.
This can be done by:
- Icebreakers
- Collaboration Activity – Part 1 and Part 2
- Citizens Jury
- Emotional Touchpoint
- Focus groups
- Ketso
- One to one interviews
- Speed networking
- User panels
- Written information
- World Café
- Process mapping
- Appreciative Inquiry
- After Action reviews
- One to one interviews
Feedback
Organisations will tell children and young people and their families how their involvement has been used and the outcomes. They will be able to see the difference that their involvement has made.
This will include:
- Emails
- You Said, We Did, So What?
- Thank You letters
- Certificates
- Reports and documents
Evaluating
Organisations need to be able to evidence that the participation and engagement of children, young people and their families have achieved its proposed outcomes and led to service improvement.
This can be done by:
- What Difference Did We Make?
- You Said, We Did, So What?
- Questionnaires
- After Action reviews
- Citizen Jury
- Electronic voting
- Dot voting
- Focus groups
- Emotional Touchpoint
- Head, heart, bin, bag
- Diaries and journals
- One-to-one interviews
- User panels
- Written information
- Measure the Magic
- Council for Disabled Children Participation Audit Tool
- Contact Quality Indicators Tool
Planning Meaningful Engagement with Children and Young People
Useful questions to ask yourself when planning to engage:
- Why are you engaging?
- What do you need to know?
- Who should be involved?
- When is the best time?
- Where is the best place?
After or during the engagement:
- Analyse the findings
- Close the loop by feedback to everyone who took part
- Evaluate the engagement by learning what worked well and whether you met your objectives and outcomes.
Involving Young People Checklist
How Are We Involving Young People? Form
Other ways for children and young people and their families to get involved:
- Volunteer – Spark Somerset
- Campaigning – Somerset UK Youth Parliament
- Membership – View the Participation Directory on the Somerset Council Children and Young People’s Voice page