Seven key steps to ensure best interests of children

A number of meetings I have attended this year have left me wondering about rights-based practice: what it is, whether we all have a common understanding, and to what extent we can ensure that good outcomes for children and young people will be made real.

Wales is a country that has a policy commitment to children's rights. We were the first country in the UK to appoint a Children's Commissioner and the first to legislate so that ministers have to pay "due regard" to the UN Convention and to children's rights. Fantastic, you might say. But what does this mean if you are a play worker, youth worker, nurse, teacher, counsellor, lawyer, GP, dentist, optician, social worker, police officer, advocate, volunteer, elected representative – or indeed, anyone whose role includes providing assistance, support or a service to a child or young person? To what extent does our policy commitment to children's rights shape our practice, regardless of professional discipline? And, if you are a parent, carer, friend or relative, what does a child-rights approach mean to everyday family life?

The starting point to realising the vision of Wales as a country that respects children's rights has to be that every citizen has a common understanding and a belief in placing the child or the young person at the centre of everything we do.

I think most of us would agree that adults have a responsibility to always act in the best interests of the child or young person - and, yet, this can often be the most common oversight. I see that in my role when, for example, two organisations become locked in a dispute on who should pay for transport, support or care while the child's best interests are put on hold. Or where parents or carers argue best interest when what they are really doing is pursuing their own agenda to get something done the way they want it to be.

Best interest of the child

Losing sight of best interest and not properly placing the child at the centre damages children and young people. We must never lose sight of the fact that adults have a responsibility to keep children and young people safe, to protect them from harm and to always act in their best interest.

For anyone involved in making a decision that affects a child or young person, I would ask them to consider taking the following steps:

1. Listen to the child or young person

2. Talk with the child or young person

3. Understand where the child or young person is coming from

4. Be clear, having listened carefully, about what is in the best interests of the child or young person

5. Explain that to the child or young person and be prepared to answer their questions

6. Be open, honest and respectful to the child or young person

7. Don't smack, hit or shout at a child or young person if they make a mistake or frustrate you. Instead, take a deep breath and go back to step 1 and start again.

Children do have an acute sense of right and wrong. They can see when they are being ignored or overlooked. And they will build up feelings of resentment and anger if they feel an injustice has been done. As adults, we have a duty to ensure that decisions are made in the best interests of children, but we also have a duty to listen to children, to respect their views and to explain our actions.

No one ever said this was easy, but if we all did this, we might just begin to see a nation that becomes all we want it to be: a place that respects and promotes the rights of its children and young people in a real and meaningful way.

Keith Towler is children's commissioner for Wales