Are you serious? Involving young people in children's service planning

• Published in: Child care in practice : Northern Ireland journal of multi-disciplinary child care practice 2003-07, Vol.9 (3), p.213-216
• Main Authors: Willis, Stieneke, Mullin, Fiona, Murphy, Geraldine, McCaffrey, Emma, Harrigan, Michael, Rodgers, Nicola, Boyle (Facilitator), Darren
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescents; Child care; Child welfare; Child Welfare Services; Children; Congresses and Conventions; Delivery Systems; Northern Ireland; Planning; Planning methods; Social services; Social work; Social workers; Strategic planning; United Kingdom
• ISSN: 1357-5279; 1476-489X
• DOI: 10.1080/1357527032000167768

This paper was written by the Making A Difference Today (MAD2DAY) Group, which is a group of young people who came together over the past 24 months in order to support the participation and involvement of young people in the Western Area Children's Services Plan. This group, supported and mandated by the Western Area Children and Young People's Committee, has been based on the core principle of peer-led involvement in planning, and has recently hosted the 'Are you Serious?' Conference held at the Broomhill Hotel in Londonderry on 30 June 2003, at which some 120 young people representing organisations throughout the Western Area came together to give their views of the services available to them. The paper was delivered to the 'Think Global - Act Local' Conference held in Ballymena on 29 November 2002 to launch the four Children's Services Plans for Northern Ireland by Fiona Mullin, and to the 'Child Care in Practice' AGM at the in Belfast on 29 May 2003 by Stieneke Willis. It addresses the experience of the young people in MAD2DAY, and sets out a number of challenges that need to be taken up in order to create the conditions that will enable the views and experiences of young people to be incorporated into the planning process.