Communicating Effectively with Children & Young People

Good Practice Supporting the Voice of the Child - GM guidance on enabling children to feel respected, to have their views heard, to have stable relationships with practitioners built on trust and to have consistent support provided for their individual needs. 

Approaches to adopt during interventions to facilitate engagement with children and young people - guidance

Voice of the Child Guidance and Resource Toolkit

Voice of the Child - Supervision Questions

Voice of the Child - Resources for Practitioners

There are a range of free tools that can be used to capture the feelings, thoughts and views of a child and young person. There are different tools appropriate for children or young people of different ages, level of need or understanding. There are no factors including age, understanding or level of need that should be a barrier to capturing the views of a child or young person.   

Managers and Practitioners: For further information about the importance of capturing the ‘Voice of the Child’ see our Voice of the Child 7 Minute Briefing 

Examples of Tools:

• 'Animal Talk Activity'
• Autism Toolbox
• Children's Participation Toolkit
• ‘Say it your own way’- Children’s participation in assessment resources DfE / Barnardo’s

For further information about each of the tools listed, click here.

• NSPCC Learning: let children know you’re listening
• NSPCC Let children know you’re listening: the importance of an adult’s interpersonal skills in helping to improve a child’s experience of disclosure (PDF)
• NSPCC Let children know you’re listening poster (PDF)