Children in care and care leavers consistently tell us that being listened to matters. But meaningful participation is about more than hearing a young person’s views. It is about understanding what matters to them and ensuring those priorities help shape decisions, plans and support.
Today, we are launching a set of resources from our Ask Me What Matters project that will help social workers, personal advisers, managers and wider children’s services professionals to put children’s voices at the centre of everyday practice.
For the past two years, we have worked with four local authorities and the children and young people they support to explore how questions about wellbeing can be embedded into everyday practice with children in care and care leavers.
Building on what we have learned through the Bright Spots programme, and drawing on the views of thousands of children and young people across the country, we explored what young people wanted to be asked about their lives and how they wanted those conversations to take place.
Together we created a short film that highlights the importance of asking children and young people about the things that matter most to them. We also created a short briefing to share what each local authority decided to ask together with their children and young people. These resources can help others understand how and what to ask to capture children and young people’s views
The Ask Me What Matters local authorities have also worked to integrate these questions into their case management systems and develop ways of bringing the information together, enabling them to not only respond to individual children’s views, but also build a collective picture of how children and young people are feeling and experiencing their lives.
Why this matters
Whether it is a statutory visit, review meeting, pathway planning conversation or everyday interaction, young people want workers to get to know them and ask them about the things that matter to them.
Children and care leavers are experts in their own lives. While professionals bring skills, knowledge and experience, young people bring insight into their own hopes, relationships, challenges and aspirations.
When practitioners take time to understand what matters to a child, capture their views and act on them they are better able to:
- Build trusting relationships
- Understand strengths and worries
- Identify priorities for support
- Make shared decisions
- Demonstrate how children’s wishes and feelings genuinely influence plans and outcomes
Each worker that #AskMeWhatMatters demonstrates a commitment to asking, listening and acting on what is important to children and young people.
Watch the film
Our new short film explores why these conversations are so important and encourages professionals to reflect on how children’s voices shape their practice.
Find out more about Ask Me What Matters and see all the resources.