Good Practice Supporting the Voice of the Child, Parents and Carers

Effective safeguarding systems must be child centred. Problems can arise in safeguarding systems when practitioners in agencies lose sight of the needs and views of the children within them, or place the interests of adults ahead of the needs of children. Everyone working with children and families must seek the voice of the child and reflect and respond to it in all aspects of work. This is rooted in legislation and good practice.

Children want to be respected, to have their views heard, to have stable relationships with practitioners built on trust and to have consistent support provided for their individual needs. This should guide the behaviour of practitioners. Anyone working with children should see and speak to the child; listen to what they say; observe their behaviour; take their views seriously; and work with them and their families and the people who know them well when deciding how to support their needs.

Legal duties under the Equality Act 2010 must be complied with, including putting special provision in place to support dialogue with children who may not be able to convey their wishes and feelings as they may want to. This might include, for example, those who have communication difficulties, unaccompanied children, refugees, those children who are victims of modern slavery and/or trafficking and those who do not speak English or for whom English is not their first language.

A child-centred approach is supported by:

• The Children Act 1989 (as amended by Section 53 of the Children Act 2004). This Act requires local authorities to give due regard to a child's wishes when determining what services to provide under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989, and before making decisions about action to be taken to protect individual children under Section 47 of the Children Act 1989. These duties complement requirements relating to the wishes and feelings of children who are, or may be, looked after (Section 22 (4) Children Act 1989), including those who are provided with accommodation under Section 20 of the Children Act 1989 and children taken into police protection (Section 46(3) (d) of that Act);
• The Equality Act 2010 which puts a responsibility on public authorities to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and promote equality of opportunity. This applies to the process of identification of need and risk faced by the individual child and the process of assessment. No child or group of children must be treated any less favourably than others in being able to access effective services which meet their particular needs. To comply with the Equality Act 2010, safeguarding partners must assess and where appropriate put in place measures ahead of time to support all children and families to access services, overcoming any barriers they may face due to a particular protected characteristic;
• The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This is an international agreement that protects the rights of children and provides a child-centred framework for the development of services to children. The UK Government ratified the UNCRC in 1991 and, by doing so, recognises children's rights to expression and receiving information;
• The Domestic Abuse Act 2021, section 38 recognises that a child is a victim of domestic abuse in their own right if they see, hear or experience the effects of domestic abuse and are related to either victim or perpetrator of the abuse, or either the victim or perpetrator of the abuse has parental responsibility for that child;
• The Children’s Social Care National Framework is statutory guidance that sets out the purpose of children’s social care as existing to support children and families, to protect children by intervening decisively when they are at risk of harm and to provide care for those who need it, so they grow up and thrive with safety, stability, and love.

See Working Together to Safeguarding Children.

Children have said that they need:

• Vigilance: to have adults notice when things are troubling them;
• Understanding and action: to understand what is happening; to be heard and understood; and to have that understanding acted upon;
• Stability: to be able to develop an on-going stable relationship of trust with those helping them;
• Respect: to be treated with the expectation that they are competent rather than not;
• Information and engagement: to be informed about and involved in procedures, decisions, concerns and plans;
• Explanation: to be informed of the outcome of assessments and decisions and reasons when their views have not met with a positive response;
• Support: to be provided with support in their own right as well as a member of their family;
• Advocacy: to be provided with advocacy to assist them in putting forward their views;
• Protection: to be protected against all forms of abuse, exploitation, and discrimination, and the right to special protection and help if a refugee.

Effective ongoing action to keep the child in focus includes:

• Listening to the child's wishes and feelings - about their situation now as well as plans and hopes for the future;
• Providing children with honest and accurate information about the current situation, as seen by practitioners, and future possible actions and interventions;
• Involving the child in key decision-making processes;
• Providing appropriate information to the child about their right to protection and assistance;
• Inviting children to make recommendations about the services and assistance they need and/or are available to them;
• Ensuring children have access to independent advice and support (for example, through advocates or children's rights officers) to be able to express their views and influence decision-making;
• Considering with them, issues arising in relation to identity, diversity, culture, faith, sexual orientation language, disability, low confidence and trust.

Talking with Children and Young People

Practitioners should be aware that children may find it difficult to always speak about what they need, what is happening to them or what has happened to them.

Even initial discussions with children should be conducted in a way that minimises any distress to them and maximises the likelihood that they will feel enabled and supported in sharing their own information with the practitioners. Children may need time and more than one opportunity in order to develop sufficient trust to communicate any concerns they may have, especially if they have a communication impairment, learning disabilities, are very young or are experiencing mental health problems.

Practitioners are encouraged to:

• Explain your own role, to listen openly and to seek the views/voice of the child without advising or judging;
• Remember to consider explaining to parents and carers in advance and seek consent where necessary;
• Consult with other practitioners working with the child to ensure that confusing messages are avoided and the child is not asked to repeat their information unnecessarily;
• Avoid professional jargon and be clear about facts and opinion;
• Allow time for the child to ask questions;
• Be clear about next steps.

There are some guides and leaflets to give to parents and young people to assist with explanations and participation. It can be helpful to provide written material to take away and consider and then offer another opportunity to talk again later.

In the context of a child-centred approach, all practitioners should work in partnership with parents and carers as far as possible. Parents and carers need to understand what is happening, what they can expect from the help and support provided, what is expected of them and be supported to say what they think. This is particularly important when there is reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm, whether the harm is from inside or outside the home including online.

Working collaboratively will mean parents and carers have the best chance of making changes, and practitioners can make fair and accurate decisions about how to support children and keep them safe. While collaborative relationships between practitioners and, parents and carers are important, the wishes and feelings of the child and what is in their best interest remain central to decision-making.

Practitioners need to be particularly skilled in engaging and working with parents and carers whom services have found difficult to engage. Some examples may be parents and carers of disabled children, parents, and carers whose children are at risk of, or experiencing, harm from outside the home, fathers, and male carers, and those who are neurodivergent.

Practitioners also need to recognise, engage, and work with parents and carers who are unwilling or unable to engage with services. Four principles underpin work with parents and carers:

1. Effective partnership working with parents and carers happens when practitioners build strong, positive, trusting, and co-operative relationships by:
   • approaching families and their wider family networks and communities with empathy, respect, compassion, and creativity;
   • avoiding reinforcing family shame, suffering, and blaming;
   • using strength-based approaches, working with parents and carers to identify what is working well and how their strengths could support them to effect positive change;
   • ensuring they work sensitively with parents, carers, and children, to identify and understand the impact of adversity and trauma in their lives. They seek to understand how adversity and trauma might manifest and affect children and parents' engagement and use their expertise to adapt their response with care and compassion;
   • adapting their responses to meet the diverse needs of parents and carers, including fathers and male carers, and the specific challenges being faced, including parents and carers of disabled children, and where harm is outside the home;
   • ensuring they understand the families' background, ethnicity, religion, financial situation, ability, education, sex, ages and sexual orientation, and potential barriers these create in seeking and accessing help and support;
   • being alert and recognising where parents or carers may not be acting in the best interest of the child or where children may be experiencing abuse, neglect, and exploitation as a result of actions by parents, carers, or other individuals in their lives. Practitioners use their skills and expertise to adapt their response to secure engagement;
   • being mindful of negative stereotypes when making decisions which might lead to false assumptions.
2. Verbal and non-verbal communication should be respectful, non-blaming, clear, inclusive, and adapted to parents and carers needs. Practitioners should ensure that all materials provided to children, parents, carers, and families are jargon free, developmentally appropriate and in a format that is easily understood.
   
   Where appropriate, material provided to children, parents, carers, and families should be made accessible and translated into their first language if necessary. Professional interpreters should be provided where needed. Practitioners should not need to rely on family members or partners for interpretation services, including British Sign Language.
   
   
3. Practitioners empower parents and carers to participate in decision-making to help, support and protect children by:
   • creating a culture of "no surprises", for example, making parents and carers aware of who will attend meetings and discussions, if the child will be invited to participate and the format of the meeting or discussion;
   • explaining that parents and carers can bring a family member, a friend or supporter to meetings;
   • giving parents and carers adequate preparation at every stage, relevant information, a safe and appropriate environment for participation and suitable access arrangements;
   • signposting parents and carers to sources of help and support available locally or through the local authority;
   • helping parents and carers to understand what the issues are and how these impact on the child, what decisions could be made, what changes need to be made, why and how, timescales and possible outcomes.
4. Practitioners involve parents, carers, families, and local communities in designing processes that affect them, including those focused on safeguarding children. They value their contributions, expertise and knowledge reflecting them in service design and continuously seek feedback from parents, carers, family networks, children, and local communities to inform service improvements. Practitioners use feedback from parents and carers to reflect on their own practice.