Increasingly, institutions outside the children's sector, such as thehealth service, are using participation as a means of involving childrenand young people. It seems that Stephen Lewis has been proved right:ignoring young people's views is no longer an option.
However, there must be a distinction between listening to children andyoung people's views and actually taking them into account. Tokenism isone of the biggest turn-offs for young people in relation toparticipation. Nothing is more frustrating than giving your time andenergy just to tick bureaucratic boxes.
Children and young people's participation can be very impressive whentaken seriously: prejudices can be overcome, participants can grow inconfidence and self-belief, and policies and services can improve as aresult.
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