Gathering, listening to, and acting on children’s views is fundamental to ensuring that children are respected as active participants in decisions that affect their lives. This is strongly reflected within the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). In Scotland, The Promise reinforces this commitment by emphasising that children must be listened to, meaningfully involved, and supported to influence the decisions, services, and systems that impact them. Seeking children’s views is not simply a process of consultation; it requires practitioners and organisations to demonstrate how children’s voices have informed assessment, planning, and decision-making. By actively listening and responding to what children tell us, we promote their rights, strengthen trust and relationships, and achieve better outcomes that reflect their individual needs, experiences, and aspirations.
The Children Hearing Improvement Partnership have created an overview of how children's views can be presented, a toolkit of resource to help practitioners to gain children and young people's views, a checklist of how to record / report on these views
