Organisation and contact details:

Disabled Children and Young Persons Participation Project
The Children and Young Person’s Centre
Dobbin Street
Armagh BT61 7QQ

Tel: (028) 3751 2023
Fax: (028) 3751 2021
Email: rosemary.murray@barnardos.org.uk

Project title:

Disabled Children and Young Person’s Participation Project (DCYPPP)

Introduction:

The DCYPPP was set up in 2002 as a wraparound project following a recommendation made as a result of research carried out by Prof. G Kernohan, UU Jordanstown. The research identified the need for creative ways to involve disabled children and young people in discussions about issues that impact on their/their families’ lives.

Aim:
To facilitate the involvement of disabled children and young people in high level strategic planning processes.

Objectives:

To explore creative methods that will give disabled children and young people a say in issues that impact on their/their families’ lives.

To improve the self esteem and confidence of disabled children and young people, enabling them to feed into high level strategic planning.

To inform Government through Childrens Services Planning and other policymakers about the needs of disabled children and young people and their families.

To help improve the lives of disabled children and young people and their families.

Methods of engagement:

Group meetings

Individual placements

Using IT and assistive technologies

Drama

Art

Music

Observations

Digital photography

Workshops that facilitate partnership working with relevant schools

Results/outcomes:

Young people have influenced the project in partnership with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC):

they have attended a day of general discussion on the rights of the child to have their say (article 12) in the UN parliament building in Geneva;

they have also influenced teacher training through their work with the UNCRC.

Young people have worked closely with the previous Minister for Health which resulted in an injection of £0.5m into children services in Northern Ireland. Subsequently, they were part of the review body that produced the report ‘Proposals for the Reform of the Northern Ireland Wheelchair Services’ which was published by in August 2008.

Young people were involved in influencing the change in hate crime legislation to include offences against disabled people. They sit on the Southern Area Wraparound/Childrens Services Planning Disability Working Group.

Young people work in partnership with the local acute hospital (Craigavon Area Hospital) and parents to develop the following:

a fast track system for children with life-threatening conditions or behavioural problems that may put themselves or others at risk;

a passport for all disabled children and young people;

services for disabled young people at transition from children’s to adult services within the hospital;

a person-centred approach within the child development clinic;

improved services for people with learning disabilities;

disability awareness training for hospital staff (which the young people deliver themselves).

The views and recommendations of young people in the project’s advocacy group, Sixth Sense, have been cited in many statutory policy reports on participation as a model of good practice.

Young people hosted a workshop on transition from children’s to adult’s services - the outcomes of which are to form the basis of the work of a regional transition working group. This was run in partnership with the SHSSB Children’s Services Planning.

Evaluation process:
Our core work is participation and is ongoing.

The involvement of disabled children and young people in high level strategic planning works well because they are willing and, with help, can give a clear and honest insight into their/their family’s needs.

Association with Barnardos has greatly benefitted the work due to our level of expertise in working with children and young people. Also, we were able to draw down funding for some activities and much needed resources through Barnardos fundraising. Barnardos policy department also helped us influence issues of importance to the young people.

A close working relationship with champions in the previous Northern Ireland government, the DHSSPS, Southern Health and Social Services Board and Children’s Services Planning, as well as the links with UNCRC, helped us greatly.

I would like to take more time to plan work but this is not always possible due to the time constraints we face for involvement and responses.

If I was to start again, I would use proper resources such as care assistance and an additional member of staff. I would like to take this to a regional process that would give disabled children and young people from across Northern Ireland a say in their services planning.

With the onset of RPA, the processes of influencing have changed.

Comments:

Although we were set up as a pilot six years ago, we have been mainstreamed but without any increase in funding. This has limited the sustainability of keeping additional staff etc. This in turn limits the activities that we can do due to the support needs of many of the children and young people we work with.

The participation of disabled children and young people should not be confined to the Southern Area. Rather, disabled children and young people from across Northern Ireland should have equal opportunities to exercise their right to have their say in issues that affect them (article 12 UNCRC) and in a way that best suits them (article 13 UNCRC).