Even with the best intentions, participation can be challenging to put into practice. Hear from our participation team about practical ways you can embed youth voice and respect the rights of children and young people from Forces families to be heard.
Scroll down to learn more about what we can all do to ensure Forces children and young people are heard.
Drawing on the Forces Children’s Rights Charter, Nina, Abi, Lucy and Lisa introduce six top tips that will help you meaningfully integrate the perspectives of children and young people in your work.
Child participation is not only the right of each individual child; it’s also the right of groups of children to come together and be heard.
The Forces Children’s Rights Charter reflects this:
Children and young people tell us how much they value coming together around their collective experiences:
“Getting together with everyone, having fun, sharing our ideas and then seeing it all come together.”
“I loved seeing people I haven’t seen in a long time and working together to achieve a shared goal.”
Our regular school-based forums provide opportunities for children and young people to share what matters to them locally, the challenges they face as a result of their parents’ service, and the changes that would make a difference. We regularly hear about transitions, separation, and loss, alongside feelings of pride and shared identity.
At times, children and young people may share feelings of anger or mistrust linked to their experiences of Forces life. Such feelings often arise when a parent has experienced physical, mental, or moral injury during service, or when children themselves have faced challenges or trauma connected to their parent’s service, sometimes at key stages in their own development.
These conversations call for gentle, skilled support to ensure everyone feels safe and respected. Often, talking about these challenges is easier in group settings alongside peers that understand the complexities of Forces life.
Creative techniques provide safe and engaging ways for children to express themselves, reduce shame or the impact of trauma, and capture their shared experiences. In our experience, videos, animations, and poetry workshops have all helped children and young people communicate their stories and ideas, turning difficult subjects into shared projects and aspirations.
We’re committed to giving children and young people from Forces families opportunities to participate in change beyond their immediate spheres. We co-produce policy briefings, campaigns, and service designs, working with them through implementation, promotion, monitoring, and review. We want to build a culture where child participation is an integral part of policy and service design.
For an example, see our Tornado of Change campaign and the resulting Ruby Boots Project.
Young people have also highlighted the need for child-friendly information that is directed at them rather than through their parents, particularly from the MOD.
Children and young people with a parent who serves or has served in the Armed Forces need opportunities to tell adults what would make a difference for them. No single organisation can do this alone.
We need joined-up action across the MOD, veterans’ organisations, education, health, social care, and infamilies themselves. By working together, we can build strong, consistent systems of support that give equal priority to children’s voices and needs.
To make this happen, we must:
This is a call across sectors: let’s work together to ensure that every Forces child is seen, heard, and supported.