Listening to children

Children have the right to be listened to, and to be active participants in their lives. The views of the child must be heard and taken into account in court proceedings affecting them, which is what Article 42A.4 of the proposed new amendment to the Constitiution, sets out to do.

This article  commits the Oireachtas to legislate to make sure that the views of the child are heard and taken into account in the proceedings listed in 4.1 (children in care, child protection, adoption, guardianship, custody and access cases). This will require that judges have to listen to the views of children when making decisions about their welfare and wellbeing. It does not mean that the child’s views will be the determining factor in the case but that child’s views will be considered by the judge and given due weight according to the child’s age and maturity.

At present, a child has no automatic right to be heard – their views are heard on an ‘ad hoc’ basis, and whether the child is given the opportunity to be heard or not largely depends on the type of case before the court and the judge hearing the case. This new wording will ensure that the voice of the child is heard in every situation that affects them in adoption, guardianship or custody proceedings.

This is in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which outlines the right’s children are born with, one of which is participation right’s. This refers to a child’s civil and political rights and include the right to be consulted and to be taken into account, to physical integrity, to information, to freedom of speech and opinion and to challenge decisions made on children’s behalf.

Listening to children in early years settings

Sìolta, the National Quality Framework– also emphasises the importance of respecting and enabling children’s participation rights in early childhood settings. Sìolta emphasises the vital role of early years practitioners in implementing and enabling children’s participation rights within ECEC settings. Just as with the literature on children’s rights and the new sociology of childhood, Sìolta constructs the child as a ‘competent learner from birth’ and ‘an active agent in her/his own development’.

For example Standard 1 is all about listening to children and respecting, valuing their views and perspectives and responding to their choices and decisions in ways that support the child’s strengths, needs and interests.

The Standard requires that:

• Each child has opportunities to make choices, is enabled to make decisions, and has her/his choices and decisions respected [Component 1.1].
• Each child has opportunities and is enabled to take the lead, initiate activity, be appropriately independent and is supported to solve problems [1.2].
• Each child is enabled to participate actively in the daily routine, in activities, in conversations and in all other appropriate situations and is considered as a partner by the adult [1.3].

Just as with the UNCRC and Sìolta, Aistear states that children:

‘Have opinions that are worth listening to, and have the right to be involved in making decisions about matters which affect them. In this way, they have a right to experience democracy. From this experience they learn that, as well as having rights, they also have a responsibility to respect and help others, and to care for their environment.’

Early Childhood Ireland believes that by participating in decision making, children can help decision makers reach a decision which best meets and supports them according to context and setting. Children have to live with the consequences of decisions which affect them – it’s therefore just that they should have input and influence into such decisions.

Early Years settings which implement and respect children’s participation rights:

• Promote children’s development: sociocultural theory highlights how ‘children learn developmentally by doing what they don’t know how to do’ (Holzman, 1995: 204). Children benefit from being viewed as competent learners and given the opportunity to learn in partnership with others;

• Protect children better: children who are encouraged to talk and to gradually take increasing responsibility for decisions as their competence evolves are empowered to act to challenge abuses of their rights and are not simply reliant on adults to protect them (Lansdown, 2005);

• Produce better outcomes for children: there is a significant body of evidence which indicates that settings which involve children and introduce more democratic structures are likely to be more harmonious, have better adult/child relationships and a more effective learning environment

• Strengthen democracy: By experiencing respect for their views and discovering the importance of their respect for the views of others, children experience the implications of democratic decision making from the earliest age and so begin to understand the processes and value of democracy
  (Lansdown, 2005; Lindahl, 2005);

• Respect a fundamental human right: everyone – including young children – has a right to express their views when decisions that directly affect their lives are being made.