The England-wide training programme started this week and is being delivered in nine regional workshops run by The National Youth Agency (NYA). The tuition is led by The NYA's active involvement team, which has previously trained officials from Government departments, including the Department for Education and Skills, on engaging young people in their work.
Central to the team are four young trainers, aged between 18 and 22, who design, deliver and evaluate the training. Bill Badham, active involvement development officer at The NYA, said: "Our job is not to teach Cafcass practitioners how to listen to individual children or young people - they're already experts on that. What is harder to pick up are issues raised by children and young people in a wider context and hearing their collective views on being looked after and the court system. Our job is to help Cafcass involve children and young people in its work and future direction."
After the workshops, each region will develop an action plan setting out how it intends to involve young people in developing its work. The progress will then be monitored by The NYA.
Representatives of a local children's rights project will be involved at each regional training event, offering their views on what participation methods work best. The training is scheduled for completion by Christmas, with an evaluation due in the New Year.
The first workshop is being held in the Northeast and will be followed by events in England's eight other regions.
