Voice and Experience of the Child

We are committed to ensuring that the voice of the child is an essential part of service planning and that engagement with children and young people is meaningful.  At every stage of the child protection process we will ensure that the child is listened to and kept informed of the decisions that are being taken around their care pathway to ensure they feel safe and able to voice their wishes and concerns.  We will use a variety of techniques to engage with our young people including conversations, play and drawings to ensure that all children feel comfortable in providing their views. 

The benefits of this are twofold:

• Tameside will be able to improve the quality of its service through direct consultation and participation of children.
• Children and young people looked after by the local authority can be assured that their voice matters to leaders as well as practitioners and staff of all agencies, and that they will be taken seriously.

Our work will focus on three main areas:

• Individual: Ensuring children and young people influence decisions made about their lives.
• Strategic: Ensuring children and young people are actively involved in the wider improvement of the service
• Community: Building opportunities for children and young people to be involved in their local community.  Speaking up about their needs equips children to be agents of change and to be active in the community as adults with high aspirations for their lives.