The young board members at Our Hearings, Our Voice shared their 40 Calls to Action within our interactive online Zine one year ago on 19th October 2020.
These came from two years of work by the young people and they organised the Calls around children’s rights, particularly in relation to feeling safe and comfortable in Hearings, being suitably informed and able to meaningfully participate, and being fully respected and supported by adults throughout the system who are knowledgeable and committed to fulfilling children’s rights.
One of the key functions of Our Hearings, Our Voice is to identify and recommend improvements across the Hearings System. The young people have done this through their 40 Calls to Action – tangible and achievable changes that can be made. This is the direction they believe needs to be taken and it is now up to the organisations to follow their lead.
The 40 Calls are not for any single agency or organisation. All members of the Children’s Hearings Improvement Partnership (CHIP) are being asked to report in November on their organisational response to the OHOV 40 Calls to Action. There is no expectation that every organisation responds to all of the calls – however, there are some which can only be met by single agency action or in partnership with others.
As well as reporting to CHIP, we need to ensure feedback is routinely given to children and young people involved in OHOV and wider to ensure accountability and evidence of change. It is not enough to ask young people what needs to change in the Hearings System. Their views need to be taken seriously and have real influence.
We have asked key partners throughout this year and more recently to share the progress they are making towards achieving the 40 Calls, as well as the impact they have had on their everyday work. Watch this space as we will be sharing their views throughout this week on our website and social media!