Last Saturday we held our 17th board meeting and invited the Chairs of two key boards involved in the Children’s Hearings System- Michelle at the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration and Garry at Children’s Hearings Scotland.
We had three things in mind: getting to know each other and build trust; thinking ahead to how the young people’s board (OHOV) can work with and influence change through these adult boards; and giving the board chairs a clear sense of what changes young people wish to prioritise within the hearings system.
We will analyse and share in more detail the key priorities the young people shared with Garry and Michelle but there was a clear leaning towards these themes:
- Fully including children in decisions about their own lives/ supporting and preparing them fully throughout decision-making processes/ listening and hearing them/ understanding them/ not judging/helping children to share their views.
- Ensuring the environment, space, culture, support and respect for children’s choices are in place that make hearings safe and comfortable for children and young people.
- Reaching out to and including a wider group of hearings-experienced children and young people in OHOV and other work towards improving and re-designing the children’s hearings system.
It is clear to see the parallels between these priorities, efforts to Keep the Promise and our board members 40 Calls to Action in their interactive Zine
We were delighted with the response from both Chairs who showed a real desire to get on with making these changes, building momentum to Keep the Promise and to make their organisations accountable to OHOV in relation to the 40 Calls to Action.
Of course no OHOV board meeting is ever dull. We all had great fun creating lighthouses for this year’s Festival of Care and even made some of our own tiktok films!
We will analyse and share in more detail the key priorities (see below) the young people shared with Garry and Michelle but there was a clear leaning towards these themes:
