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How’s Your Head | Young Voices During COVID-19

A new report from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs has found that the Covid-19 pandemic has had negative effects on young people’s health and wellbeing, especially amongst marginalised groups.

The report, based on the findings of research undertaken by SpunOut and the Department’s Youth Advisory Group, shows how young people struggled with being separated from their friends, and faced significant mental health impacts as a result of Covid-19 and the restrictions.

The report found that:

• Missing friends was most commonly cited as a challenge faced during Covid-19 (cited by 35% of respondents), followed by impact on health (20%), school/college problems (18%), and cabin fever (16%)
• Young people’s feelings towards the future were mixed. Over one third of respondents reporting optimism for the future. However, negative feelings such as anxiety, uncertainty, pessimism and fear were also common
• Young people mentioned a range of positives that they wished to take forward, including maintaining a healthy lifestyle, self-care, quality family time and relief from pressure of commutes and school or college. However, almost one in ten respondents were unable to name any positives.

Guidance for Youth Work Organisations | Informed by the Government’s Resilience & Recovery 2020-2021: Plan for Living with COVID-19

This guidance succeeds and replaces previous youth sector guidance and is prepared in the broader context of the Government’s Resilience & Recovery 2020-2021: Plan for Living with COVID-191, and the Return to Work Safely Protocol2 . This guidance should be read in conjunction with those documents, and any future Government advice in relation to COVID-19.

Making Participation Work

Making Participation Work, funded by the Department for Education, focuses on five key elements to enable effective young people's participation: Scoping work on children and young people's participation to build a clear picture of the breadth and depth of local area engagement with children and young people.

Independent Children’s Rights Impact Assessment on the Reponse to COVID-19 in Scotland

This independent Children's Rights Impact Assessment is a thorough analysis of how emergency laws and policies around the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the human rights of children and young people in Scotland.

August Making Ourselves Heard Newsletter

In this newsletter you will find:

• An opportunity to join the third session of a series of peer-led virtual discussion groups
• An opportunity for seldom heard disabled children and young people, and children and young people with special educational needs
• The latest news and updates from the wider sector
• The latest participation resources

Creating Opportunities for Youth

This report details the findings of EU Youth Dialogue consultations conducted with young people in Ireland. Consultations took place between March and October 2019.

Independent children’s rights institutions as facilitators of dialogue between children and the state: an opportunity for mutual empowerment?

The role of independent children’s rights institutions is a multifaceted one, which can lead them to be pulled in many different directions. For most such institutions the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) provides a fundamental underpinning for their work, and many institutions place particular emphasis on Article 12 and on children’s rights to participation more generally. At the same time a principal focus of activity is on influencing law and policy in their national jurisdictions. In this paper we explore some ways in which these separate objectives can be combined in ways that challenge, or at least compensate for, children’s exclusion from political influence. Drawing on research conducted with independent children’s rights institutions in Europe, we point to some weaknesses in the current pattern of activity which can lead to a lack of impact, and some examples of how institutions can engage more effectively, both with children and with powerful actors, by promoting and facilitating dialogue between them.

My Pocket Guide to CRC Reporting

MY POCKET GUIDE TO CRC REPORTING - A companion guide for children willing to tell the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child about how  childrenʼs rights are respected in their country. An introduction for children about the CRC, the Committee on the Rights of the Child and its reporting process.

Comhairle na nÓg Case Study

This case study explores the operation of Comhairle na nÓg as a governmental citizen engagement initiative. It begins by outlining what is meant by citizen engagement and why this is particularly important in the area of children and young people’s participation. The study examines the origins and evolution of Comhairle na nÓg. Having outlined the administration and organisation of the organisation, the study examines the particular strengths of Comhairle na nÓg as well as considering the key challenges facing Comhairle na nÓg engagement efficacy. Readers of this case study can expect to understand the operation and implementation of Comhairle na nÓg as a citizen engagement activity in its own right; but also in terms of the integration of children and young people’s voices into the broader governance and engagement agenda at a local level.

Giving young people in care a voice in decision making

Social workers at Southern Eastern Health and Social Care Trust found a new way to gather the views of young people who are in care, to support decision making at their looked-after-child review meetings. They started using the Mind Of My Own app, as featured in our ‘Bottoms up’ film. Here we look at how the project came about and what was involved.