One of the biggest challenges when working to increase children andyoung people's participation in decision-making is avoiding tokenisticconsultation that results in not much more than box ticking, and notmanipulating children into serving an adult agenda.
But unfortunately, there's an awful lot of both about these days. It's avery political time, with our new head of children's servicesscrutinising everything that has been cosy and comfortable in the pastand finding the services somewhat wanting. "We need to find better waysof consulting with children," she says. So everyone is suddenlyscrambling to sort it out.
I confess that I attend many adult professional meetings that talk aboutinvolving young people. To be truthful, they often bore me, and I think"If I'm losing the will to live, how would a child feel?" They alwayshappen during the day, when children are at school. The systems justaren't young people friendly - the demand for involvement is huge.
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