Promoting rights: protecting and respecting children

This article explores the complex landscape of decision-making for children who are in need of care and protection. It sets out some of the challenges when ascertaining children's views and emphasises the importance of protecting children's rights by involving them meaningfully in all decisions that affect their family life; by recording their views, according these weight and by keeping a written record of what actions were taken and why throughout their involvement with statutory services. It sets out how we currently gather children's views and encourages the use of more creative approaches to ensure that children's voices are heard — and their rights respected — throughout all decision-making that affects them.