Incorporating children’s voices into practice and processes

Children have a right to participate in the decisions that affect their lives – this is one of the guiding principles of the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child (1989). Children are active participants in their lives and possess knowledge about the issues they face, but their voices are often invisible within the services that work with them. Practitioners can play a vital role in creating safe and child-focused processes for hearing and responding to children’s feedback to improve services and their experiences.  

In this episode, host Nicole Rollbusch is joined by Becca Allchin, an occupational therapist and clinical researcher. Becca shares her experience in engaging with children and families to gather their perspectives on the programs they engage with. She outlines the important role of relationships and creating safety when incorporating children’s voices into processes and practice. 

• Listen to the episode to consider how you might incorporate children’s voices into your practice. 

• Read In focus: Child, family and practitioner voice to learn more about building respectful partnerships with children and families.  

In this episode, you will learn about:  

• the definition of child voice and why it’s important [03:10] 

• the methods that support children to share their perspectives [06:04] 

• creating safety for children in processes for gathering feedback [11:20]  

• common challenges and solutions in collecting and implementing children’s voices [22:04]  

• ideas on where to start to incorporate children’s voice into practice and processes [28:01] 

Further information and resources:  

In focus: Child, family and practitioner voice  

Child and youth voice