Full Practitioner guide to using the Wishes and Feelings tool

Transcription

1 Full Practitioner guide to using the Wishes and Feelings tool This tool is designed for practitioners to help the child/young person to discuss and record their views, wishes and feelings for different purposes. The child/young person may wish to complete it in stages and it can also be led by the child- depending on their capacity. This tool uses a draw and talk format, but you can use any other method to compliment this which helps you and the child record their thoughts. There is information about are lots of methods later in this guidance booklet. 1) Help the child/young person understand the process To ensure the child/young person can inform and help shape decisions, they need to understand the process. The circle below helps explain the process to the child. You will find information sheets for children and young people to download and give to them. I will explain to you what will happen next I will tell you why I am talking to you and what will happen next You can ask me any questions about the meeting I will tell you how the meeting went You can tell me what YOUR wishes and feelings are? This is how I will share with grown ups your wishes and feelings at the meeting 1

2 2) Think about the method you will use Draw and Talk: The child is asked to draw pictures to explain their views and feelings and then discussion with the worker is based on the child s drawings. In one to one sessions, children aged as young as 3-5 and specifically aged 5-8 found draw and talk helpful, elicited accurate information and enabled interviews to last longer than talking only. It has been used with emotions happy, sad, angry and scared. Please note, the 0-5 and Disability booklets are practitioner led, so will have additional practitioner guidance in the workbooks. You and the child/young person may compliment or use other methods to help build a full understanding of their views, wishes, feelings and experiences. Some complimentary evidence based methods are: Observation and Informal Listening: can equally be used to ensure very young and vulnerable children are heard. However, there is a greater responsibility on the adults to accurately share the child s voice and not to confuse this with the adults overall assessment. The child s voice must feed into a decision, be taken into account and both the impact and the decision fed back to the child. Picture Stimulus: Pictures developed (i.e. from magazines) which relate to particular situations and which the child and adult add the written element to, or which children can rank in order of importance to them if the question asks for this. Using smiley face pictures, adults ask, Can you think about a time when you had a smile on your face like this? Can you tell me about it? Child-focussed Interviews: Try to build a relationship: give children some choice about timings, settings and who attends; be clear with the child about the purpose of the interview; use jargon-free language; try not to repeat questions too much; go at the pace of the child. Try to ensure the child feels valued for themselves, not because they are participating to meet an agency performance indicator. Understand how the child may experience: their situation; your role and their hopes/concerns about participating. Child-focussed Meetings: these can be achieved by: preparing the child and adults who will be present; by ensuring the child has a copy of any consultation paper they completed before hand; by the child attending part of the meeting only; by having a supporter or advocate; by being given feedback afterwards. Participatory Report Writing: ask each family member: Where, when and why do they feel the problem started? How does the family describe themselves, each other and their background? To what do they agree with or consent to?; What would they like to see change and when by? Write the report based on these issues and show family members what has been written (subject to confidentiality and child safety). Re-enactment: (Role playing what the child remembers and regards as important). In one to one sessions, children aged as young as 2-6 and specifically aged 5-8 found re-enactment both helpful, elicited accurate information and enabled interviews to last longer than talking only. This has been used with emotions such as happy, sad, angry and scared. 2

3 Timelines: The child and adult sketch out a day in the life of on a diary sheet. The adult then prompts the child with questions about their day. Adults can ask Would you change anything about your day? / What? / Have you got a favourite time of day? Projective Techniques: The use of props as characters to pose questions as a gobetween. Dolls (for example) can have their own (pre-defined) character and can act as naive individuals who don t know anything about the child children can ask the dolls questions and, in turn, the dolls can ask questions back. It also enables the child to re-direct their response through a third party which may make it easier for them to reply. 3) Choose the pages which are appropriate for the work you are doing. This tool is designed to help ensure individual children or young people can actively participate in any statutory decision about their lives. There is a generic section Me, My Views, My meeting which should be used for all meeting types and will cover key issues for a CAF or other targeted service assessments and meetings. There are additional sections for more specialist work. For example: o To ensure a child participates in an SEN review, use Me, My Views, My meeting and then the Me, School and My Future section in addition o For a social care assessment, first use Me, My Views, My meeting section and then use My Family, My Home and My Needs o For ongoing child protection work, use Me, My Views, My meeting and then Protecting Me and Keeping Me Safe There are some blank sheets so you can create your own questions. There is also a range of information leaflets for children and young people available too. There are also slightly different versions for three broad age bands and for children with severe learning difficulties. Please use your professional judgement as to the relevant pages to use for your work. There are some additional information and guidance for practitioners to help you get the most out of these tools. Remember, listening improves decisions and is a positive process for the child itself and is a right. 4) Go at the child s pace Go through each question with the child carefully, at their pace, so they do not feel pressurised into responding. This can be a tricky balance as you will often have a deadline 3

4 to meet too. Make sure the child/young person knows this so they can take control of what they choose to share with you. 4) Offer support as needed Some children or young people will require specific help to complete this workbook, others will be best doing it on their own. Please use your own professional judgement to decide how much encouragement and or support each child needs 5) Summarise, use and feedback Use the summary pages to draw together their views, wishes and feelings. Be clear on what will be taken to the meeting and make sure that they are informed of the decisions afterwards. This may mean explaining something they do not want or it mat mean showing how they helped with the final decision Background and more information to help The tool has been developed because the Children Act 2004 implements article 12 of the United Nations Convention for the Rights of the Child across education, preventative, social care and safeguarding provision. The requirement is to ensure the views, wishes and feelings of the child/young person are seriously considered and taken into account in decisions which affect their lives. Children develop differently, depending on their environment, their use of language, their experiences, the support they are given and their age. Children also have many different ways in which they communicate and should be regarded as being able to express their views, wishes and feelings. It is therefore the adults responsibility to find ways in which to hear and capture them. Children s views, wishes and feelings should be the starting point of the process and should be considered alongside parents, carers and professional views in order to understand their views (priorities, experiences, wishes, feelings and needs) as part of the decision-making. Children will then need to know the decision and what impact their views had. There are a number of important issues to bear in mind when involving children and young people in decisions about their lives: Resilience (Newman and Blackburn, 2002) Support the child to develop resilience: 4

5 o If children are able to recognise any positives or benefits which have come about following very difficult situations or experiences, then this can be a platform for growth and for overcoming trauma in the future o There are a number of things which ERODE resilience: Poverty; insecure housing; isolation; abuse; poor relationships o There are a number of things which PROMOTE resilience: strong support networks; a relationship with a key person; reframing adversity; helping others; developing skills; a sense of control over what is happening; activities which promote esteem Inclusion/exclusion Promote inclusion through participation (Hill and others, 2004) Socially excluded children are amongst those who are least often heard, but many services and policies are designed to narrow the gap. In order to be socially included, children and young people need a voice. Therefore take extra steps to listen to vulnerable/ socially excluded children (disabled, Travellers, white working class and other minority ethnic groups etc) in order to help promote inclusion. Listening skills Some ways of listening have been shown to help the child heal after abuse as well as making assessments of need better (Littlechild, 2000). To do this, understand: o how the child may experience their situation o how the child may experience your role o their hopes/concerns about participating The listening process To ensure children and young people take part in individual decisions, all staff need to work in the following way: Values o Presume the child can contribute- regardless of age and ability (it is the adult s responsibility to find a way) o Value the child/young person and their views, wishes and feelings throughout the whole process (they are people!) o Be honest and transparent at all times (it builds trust) 5

6 Views, wishes and feelings These are all slightly different and can be described as: o Views: an opinion, judgement or belief (need to be acknowledged, even if you disagree) o Wishes: a want or desire for something (often these are improbable) o Feelings: an emotional reaction (which may well need managing) o Priorities: the most/least important things o Experiences: what the service or intervention was like for the child o Needs (self assessed) what h child feels will help them) Different ways to hear their voice There are many different ways in which to involve children and young people in decisions about themselves as individuals. Some are: o Drawing and talking o Child-focussed Interviews o Observation and Informal Listening o Timelines o Picture Stimulus Be child/young person focussed o Explain what is happening and why o Choose times and places which are child- friendly to meet and discuss things o Go at the pace of the child (too fast may result on the child not telling you) Share power with the child/young person o Involve children in as much of the process as you can (from start to finish of possible) o Allow children to raise their own points for discussion (child may have different priorities and will have their own experiences) o Be clear on what can / cannot be done (the law or for safety reasons, you may only be able to take account of their views but say sorry - no ) Record, consider and take action on their views o Check you have understood what the child/young person is saying (don t just make your own interpretations on drawings or pictures etc) o Explore how the views of the child/young person could help the decision (where do the add value to, or alter, your initial thoughts) Feeding back, explaining how they influenced things, managing feelings and recording outcomes o Explain the impact they had and feedback to the child/young person (verbally and/or in writing) o Record any outcomes from their participation (sharing views can build confidence and self esteem and decisions should lead to improved outcomes o Support the child/young person who may have strong feelings about the decision and/or it s impact (they may feel angry, bewildered or scared) 6