Policy Scotland convened a round table last month with the aim of bringing together policymakers and researchers who work with and for children and young people, both in and beyond child-focused services. The hope was to facilitate a fruitful dialogue around hearing children’s views in policymaking as we headed into a new Scottish Government administration.
The recent passing of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) Bill by Scottish Parliament emphasises a need to think more broadly about what children need from services than many of us are used to. This requires new mechanisms to ensure their voices are heard in the decisions that affect them.
The policy roundtable highlighted recent work from two research programmes by Children’s Neighbourhoods Scotland and A Place in Childhood, followed by comments from Nicola Hughes, Embedding Children’s Rights Across Public Services Lead at the Scottish Government.
In this blog on the Children’s Neighbourhoods Scotland website Dr Jenny Wood (A Place in Childhood) and Dr Maureen McBride of Children’s Neighbourhoods Scotland (University of Glasgow) reflect on the presentations and discussions that ensued, and offer some initial reflections on the barriers and opportunities that emerged.
Image credit: monkeybusinessimages | iStockPhoto
