http://www.participationworks.org.uk/involved-by-right Involved by Right is an EU Daphne programme grant-funded project which seeks to improve participation and advocacy in child protection to achieve better outcomes for children at risk. The project is unique in that it will ensure theactive participation of children with experience of the child protection system and those in public care. The project started in March 2011 and will end in February 2013. A strong partnership of five organisations has been brought together to bring expertise of children’s rights to front line practitioners: Barnardo’s and National Children’s Bureau (NCB) which are two UK non-government organisations, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (UK) Helsingborg local authority (Sweden) and the local Social Health Unit in Bassano del Grappa ( Italy). The project has been designed to deliver a specific Daphne programme priority: “Field work at grass-roots level with involvement of children and young people to empower them to protect themselves and their peers against violence.”

1. Welcome and Introduction
Hello and welcome to our first Involved by Right newsletter!
First, let me give you a brief introduction to the Barnardo’s and National Children’s Bureau (NCB)
project. Involved by Right is an EU Daphne which are two UK non-government organisations,
programme grant-funded project which seeks the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (UK)
to improve participation and advocacy in child Helsingborg local authority (Sweden) and the local
protection to achieve better outcomes for children Social Health Unit in Bassano del Grappa ( Italy).
at risk. The project is unique in that it will ensure the The project has been designed to deliver a specific
active participation of children with experience of the Daphne programme priority:
child protection system and those in public care.
“ Field work at grass-roots level with involvement of
The project started in March 2011 and will end children and young people to empower them to
in February 2013. A strong partnership of five protect themselves and their peers against violence.”
organisations has been brought together to bring
expertise of children’s rights to frontline practitioners:
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2. It is envisaged that children and young people will From my own perspective, It has been particularly
be at the forefront of project activities through the enjoyable to see how partnerships have come
emphasis on: together to form a strong alliance around Article 12
• Participation – young people who have UNCRC principles, which for this project is about
experience of the child protection system will empowering children to be active participants in child
be recruited to Youth Advisory Boards (YABs) in protection decision-making processes. Children in
the three countries to help steer the project. YAB the child protection system are too often ignored
representatives will take part in transnational because of the challenges involved in balancing
project steering meetings, and a residential event rights that are about protection and rights that are
in the UK. They will also be supported to develop about participation. The aspiration is to make a real
resources for young people to have their voice difference by providing effective advocacy support
heard in the child protection processes. for children to have a say in decisions that affect
their lives. At the end of the project, we will bring
• Advocacy - an advocacy model will be piloted
to effectively enable children to influence findings together in an international EU protocol to
decision- making in individual child protection set standards for children’s active participation in
planning processes. the child protection system. A best practice toolkit
and young people’s resources will be produced by
The project set -up stage is now almost complete and involving the YABs in all stages of the developments.
the pilot field work study and YABs pilot field work
study...is now up and running. I think we all recognise In addition to bringing you up to speed with the project
that the progress would not have been possible group’s aspirations and work to date, this edition will
without the transnational meetings which have taken also introduce you to Amanda Rodgers who is our
place in England and Sweden. These meetings international YAB coordinator. Amanda will help make
have provided a forum to think about advocacy and arrangements for young people to participate in
participation in a broader, international context and to transnational project steering group meetings, and host
share knowledge and experiences of best practice by the young people’s residential event in the UK in 2012.
bringing together practitioners and experts in the field. I hope you will all join me in welcoming her to the project.
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3. I am really grateful to everyone in the project team
for the commitment to develop project delivery plans
which sets out the details of the project description.
I hope this newsletter has helped you get to know
the project better, and watch this space for updates
of Involved by Right activities. If you want to find out
more, the contact page provides contact details to
the project leads in each organisation.
Enjoy the rest of the summer, and all the best!
Camilla Webster
Involved by Right Project Manager
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4. The Project
The key, specific aim of the project is: 3) Research and development – the National
“ To improve participation and advocacy in child Children’s Bureau research team bring much
protection to achieve better outcomes for valued expertise and will undertake a literature
children at risk.” review, evaluate the UK field work study of
advocacy in child protection, and help coordinate
The project has four overlapping work strands with the evaluation of advocacy approaches in foster
their own objectives: care and residential care in Italy and Sweden.
1) Participation – a Young People’s Shadow Board 4) Knowledge transfer – round table discussions
has participated in project design and has set and workshops will be held at transnational
up activities. A Youth Advisory Board will be meetings on the topics of advocacy and
set up in each country to help steer the project participation. At the end of the project a
and develop resources for young people and dissemination conference will take place in
professionals. In the UK, young people will have London, UK to bring together partners and
had experience of child protection processes, professionals and YAB representatives. The
some will also have care experiences and a care evaluation report, best practice toolkit and
leaver will chair the YAB. In Sweden, the YAB will young people’s resources will be published and
be made up by young people in a residential care disseminated at this event.
unit. In Italy, young people will be recruited from
a regional area and will participate in hosting the
transnational meeting in Italy in the autumn.
2) Advocacy – in the UK an advocacy model will
be developed for children in child protection as
a partnership between the Royal Borough of
Kensington and Chelsea and Barnardo’s. The
pilot will also include developing a Strengthening
Families approach to improve the engagement of
families in child protection conferences. In Italy
and Sweden, advocacy approaches will be piloted
4 in foster care and residential care settings.

5. News
New child protection advocacy project
In June, an article was published in Children and
Young People Now with the heading ‘Safeguarding:
Advocacy programme gives children chance to be
heard’. The article stated that:
“ Barnardo’s will be running a new child protection
advocacy project in Kensington and Chelsea
after the authority secured EU funding as part of
its wider Involved By Right scheme.
“ The project will be evaluated by the National
Children’s Bureau and involve young people from
start to finish.”
A link to the full article is provided here.
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6. Transnational project meetings
London meeting A young person from the Shadow Board, supported
by NCB, gave a brief presentation on principles of
The first Steering Committee (SC) meeting was held participation. The Shadow Board was tasked with
in London on 4 and 5 April 2011. The purpose of putting together a job description and application form
this meeting was to introduce partners from the UK, to recruit Youth Advisory Board members. YABS are
Sweden and Italy to each other and to find out about due to be up and running in September 2011 in the
EU project and budget management rules. UK and Sweden. The Italian partner is taking a regional
NCB gave a presentation on how Involved by Right approach and the timescale will therefore be different.
would build on and share expertise from programmes The full presentations from the first Steering
such as ‘Participation Works’, ‘Young Inspectors’ and Committee meeting are available on the Participation
‘Youth Advisory Boards’. Works membership area to be shared more widely
A ‘How to’ guide on Youth Advisory Boards has been within the partnership. The website provides access
published, and a broad range of participation resources to useful participation information and resources, and
can be found on the NCB website click here. as project partners, NCB will share other resources for
free on request. To access the website click here:
A proposed research strategy was circulated and
the project manager in each country has been
discussed by the NCB research lead. It was agreed
provided with password details.
that further work was needed to determine the local
research approach in both Sweden and Italy. This
was to be finalised at the June meeting.
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7. Sweden meeting The workshop focused on ‘Common Assessments’
in early intervention in the UK. In Italy, the Common
The second SC, a workshop and a round table Assessment Framework is used in statutory childcare
discussion was held in Helsingborg, Sweden from processes. It was noted that the ‘Assessment Triangle’
20 to 22 June 2011. The SC programme covered - which underpins the framework by providing
progress on Youth Advisory Boards and the pilot dimensions of children’s needs, parenting capacity
fieldwork study. The Research Strategy was also and family environment, is used in all three countries.
agreed at this meeting.
Helsingborg presented PART - a service delivery
The focus for the round table discussion was model to pool local authority resources together to
‘Advocacy’, with Barnardo’s delivering a presentation deliver prevention projects (in English, ‘Preventative
on advocacy approaches in the UK. It provided Work Together’). Current projects are ‘SkolFam’ –
important insights into the direct work with children children in foster care; ‘Utsikter’ – children in families
involved in child protection processes. of long-term income benefit claimants and newly
arrived in Sweden’; and HUB – long-term children
supported long-term by multiple agencies.
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8. PART has now been expanded to include
international collaboration by taking part in the
Involved by Right project to improve participation
of vulnerable children and young people in care
planning and organisational development work.
The host country gave a presentation on ‘Achieving
Educational Outcomes for Children in Care’, which
focused on the use of educational assessments and
attainment measures to monitor educational progress.
The emphasis was on building strong and effective
partnerships with schools, social workers, foster
carers, birth parents and the child. The findings are
very encouraging and show that effective educational
support to children in care has a significant impact
on outcomes. An article has been published in the
international journal ‘Adoption & Fostering’ (volume
35, No. 1, 2011), and can be accessed by contacting
the project manager in Sweden (see contact details).
Save the Children in Sweden gave a presentation on
Domestic Programmes, which include child poverty
and child protection. More detailed information was
also provided on the advocacy support provided by
Save the Children (they undertake both individual and
group work with children and young people). These
advocacy experiences will be utilised in the project
by young people being interviewed as part of the
pilot field work study in Helsingborg.
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9. Calendar
Key milestones:
August: Commission YABs up and running
September: Submission of revised budget to EU.
Field work studies up and running.
Project delivery plans submitted.
October: Transnational meeting in Italy.
November: Progress report submitted to EU.
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10. Contacts
UK
Lead Agency Project manager: Camilla Webster
Email: Camilla.Webster@rbkc.gov.uk
Royal Borough Kensington and Chelsea Operational
Project manager: Jonathan Williams
Email: jonathan.williams@rbkc.gov.uk
Barnardo’s Project manager: Alison Levy
Email: alison.levy@barnardos.org.uk
National Children’s Bureau Project manager:
Nicola Murdoch
Email: nmurdoch@ncb.org.uk
Sweden
Project co-ordinator: Maria Rosendahl
Email: Maria.Rosendahl@helsingborg.se
Italy
Project manager: Claudia Bontorin
Email: Claudia.Bontorin@gmail.com
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11. Spotlight on ...
Name: Amanda Rodgers I have also been involved with projects such
Job title: I’m not sure at the moment! I’m currently as Teenagers to Work, Stepping Up and the
the Looked After Children (LAC) Advocacy and development of our Children In Care Council.
Participation Officer, but this will change shortly. How did you become involved
From September I’ll be doing three days as a child in the IBR project?
protection conference advocate for Barnardos, and
two days on the IBR project I would have been involved anyway with the setting
up and work with the Youth Advisory Board.
Likes: Sunny days and coffee However, I was also really interested in the advocacy
Dislikes: Rainy days and tea role, but it was only part-time. So it all worked out
quite nicely!
How did you get into
participation work? Could you tell us a bit about
your experience of the child
As a young person, I got into youth leadership and it
protection system?
developed from there. Most of my career has been
spent working with children and young people in This is a relatively new role for me. I have supported
some form. a couple of children with child protection plans, and
it is undoubtedly a very unfriendly environment for
What were you doing children and young people.
before this role? I am hoping that the combination of the advocacy
I have been the LAC Advocacy and Consultation offer and the new Strengthening Families model for
Officer for the last few years. This has involved conferences will enable children and young people to
supporting individuals with complaints, or challenges be at the heart of the process. This will mean having
to decisions being made about their care, and their views taken into account and their wishes
ensuring their rights are being met. translated into actions for the plans.
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12. Tell us a bit more about What are your hopes
running a residential with for the IBR project?
children. Sounds like a tricky job! I hope that it will change the way children and young
Nothing to it – you just need lots of energy and lots of people are worked with in child protection situations.
caffeine! It’s the part of the job I most enjoy, as it’s much I believe that it is the right of every child and young
less formal and you have a real opportunity to get to person to be heard by adults who make decisions
know the children and young people you work with. about them and, while child protection is a particularly
My favourite part is seeing them making friends sensitive area, ways can always be found to make it
with each other. Obviously the residential event will appropriate for the children and young people.
be slightly different, as we will have young people At the end of the project we hope to be able to share
present from both Sweden and Italy. This will our learning with others, and have a lot of proven
naturally bring its own set of challenges, but as long suggestions of ways in which children and young
as long as we can all communicate with each other people can be involved.
we should be alright!
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