The Danish National Council for Children calls for a stronger involvement of children and young people

Far too many children and young people experience that decisions are made without their involvement and projects are initiated without their perspectives. To ensure that children and young people become involved in decisions relevant to them, the Council has issued a handbook as a helping hand to anyone working with children and young people.

Children have the right to be heard and to have their say. This is written in the The Convention on the Rights of the Child, in several Danish laws and it is the starting point for the views of children, which has shaped the Council. Therefore, the Council issues a handbook on the involvement of children and young people. The book was made with support from VELUX FONDEN as part of the project “Children as experts”, where different groups of children and young people over the last three years have expressed themselves as experts in their everyday lives.

President Per Larsen, The Danish National Council for Children calls for more and better involvement of children and young people:

”We still see that a lot of children and young people are not involved in matters that are relevant to them. In addition, we also see a lot of areas in child policy and in the child specialist field where participation of the children would have raised the quality of young lives in general."

Therefore, he is also proud and happy to be able to pass on the experience of the Danish National Council for Children: "The involvement of the children is pivotal when we through studies focus on various aspects of children's lives and point to regulatory gaps or discrepancies in practice. It is our clear experience that much is to be gained when we involve children and young people - e.g. better placements, better treatment for hospitalized children and adolescents and improved well-being in schools and day-care centers. "