On 20th November, the Somerset Council building joined schools and other buildings, including the Eiffel Tower and Chichen Itza, celebrating the global day of action from UNICEF for children, marking the anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The theme for UNICEF’s World Children’s Day this year is “Listen to the future, stand up for children’s rights”.

The Somerset Children and Young People’s Plan sets out a shared vision to keep children and young people in Somerset safe and ensure they can grow up in a child friendly county that supports them to be happy, healthy and prepared for adulthood. Shaped by the voices of 6,000 children and young people across the county, the plan takes a whole family approach and provides clear direction to enable us to work together on shared priorities to support our families to be strong, resilient and achieve long-term change and stability so that children can thrive and succeed.

Somerset offers many youth voice groups, including the Somerset in Care and Somerset Leaving Care Council (SiCC and SLCC), The Unstoppables (a group for young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities aged 13-25 years), Youth Parliament and Youth Forum. These groups are heard on a local and national stage and have led to positive change in the county.

For more information about youth voice groups, visit: www.somerset.gov.uk/somerset-young-peoples-voice.  For more information on the Somerset Children and Young People’s Plan, visit: www.somerset.gov.uk/somerset-children-and-young-peoples-plan.