Involving Children and Young People
Bairns’ Hoose is first and foremost about the needs of the child, so it is vital that children are involved in the process to get this right. This means that children and young people are not only consulted, but listened to and that their views have a lasting impact.
With this in mind, our approach to Bairns’ Hoose will be aligned with Scottish Government’s approach to participation and the Lundy Model of participation.
The Lundy model allows UNCRC Article 12 “the right to have views given due weight” to be understood and realised through four elements of participation: space, voice, audience and influence. That is, children should have a safe and inclusive space to express their views. They should have appropriate information to be able to use their voice, their views should be taken seriously and acted upon when appropriate and they should be communicated to an appropriate audience who will listen and can affect change.
This rights-based approach, ensures children’s voices and experiences remain central to both local implementation and national policy development, transforming how services are designed and delivered for vulnerable children
The Link Worker Model
Involving children and young people in the development of Bairns’ Hoose is central to its success. That is why children and young people’s participation is being strengthened through the implementation of a comprehensive link worker approach across Pathfinder and Affiliate partnerships, who have each identified a designated person to act as a go between (link worker) acting as an advocate for children’s voices and in representing children and families across the Bairns’ Hoose programme.
While it remains for local partnerships to determine how best to facilitate the involvement of children and young people in the development of their Bairns’ Hoose, we are committed to working with our partners to ensure that the voices of children and young people are embedded in the design and delivery of Bairns’ Hoose.
Children and young people engagement to date reinforces the importance of choice, flexibility and minimising disruption, including enabling children and young people to have a meaningful say in who supports them and how services are being delivered.
Children and young people have articulated a clear expectation that participation and co-design should be embedded as standard practice to ensure services are informed by those with lived experience.
Bairns’ Hoose partnerships are expected to establish and maintain participation mechanisms, including through the Link Worker approach, to ensure the voice of children, young people and families are meaningfully reflected in the development of the model.
Children First Changemakers Group
The Changemakers is a group of young people between the ages of 13 and 19 who have experiences of the care, protection and justice system. The group was central to the development of Bairns’ Hoose Standards in bringing a powerful combination of real life insights from their own experiences, and motivation for change to their work.
The Changemakers will continue to help shape Bairns’ Hoose moving forward. The Children and Young People Participation and Engagement Plan, which details this and other aspects of our approach along with other helpful resources can be found in our Resources section of the website.