On this website, both children and adults receive information about the rights children have to be involved in big and small decisions that are made in their lives. These are rights that all children and young people under the age of 18 have according to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Some of the rights are about how adults should work together with a child or young person when something is to be decided or done in the life of this child or young person.
Why adults have to involve children in decisions
Children have the right to be involved in decision-making processes about their lives. This is important because it is a right that children should be guaranteed – in addition to the fact that it is often crucial for effective decisions. Here, young people from Sweden, Åland and Norway explain a little about why it is important for children to be involved in decisions.
Children have rights in decisions
The rights that children and young people have to be involved in decision-making are presented in the films below. These include the right to information, the right to be informed before something is shared further, the right to speak safely and to be involved in decision-making.
These rights apply at school, at youth clubs, when a child or young person is getting help from a public health nurse, a psychologist, Youth Outreach Services or the Child Protection System. All adults should know these rights and it is adults responsibility to teach them to children.
When something is going to be done or decided for you, you have the right to receive information about everything that concerns you
Examples of information you have the right to receive:
- What is going to be decided
- What alternatives exist, for example what kind of help you can get
- That you have the right to talk in a place that feels safe for you
- That you have the right to have someone you trust with you when you talk
- That you can talk to adults without your parents knowing
- How the adults at home and those at school or those who are going to help you have contact with each other
- What adults at school, parents and other adults are not allowed to do
- Where you can speak up if something bad happens
- The right to have your rights explained to you
Adults should use understandable words when they give you information
If the adults have learned something more or something new, you have the right to know it.
Adults cannot choose whether they give you information before something about you is going to be decided
You always have the right to say your opinion when something is going to be decided about you
You can say what you think could be good or bad for you
When you are going to say your opinion, you have the right to:
- to talk to someone who feels safe for you
- to talk in a place that feels safe for you
- to have someone you trust with you when you are going to talk to an adult
The adult you are talking to should show with their body language and voice that they want to listen and understand properly what you mean
Regardless of which adult you are talking to, no one is allowed to pressure or influence you to say something you do not mean
If it is something the adults take a long time to decide on, or talk about several times, you should be able to say your opinion several times
At the beginning when you talk to an adult, you have the right to know what the adult plans to do with what you tell them. Do they plan to tell anyone else? Do they have to tell anyone else?
At the end of the conversation, you and the adult should go through what you have told them together and preferably agree on what can be shared with others.
If the adult feels they need to share some information, they have to ask you what you think about it.
Your opinion should be important when the adult decides whether to share information and how they will do it.
When deciding something, adults should always think about what will be in the child’s best interests.
In order to make a decision, you must have had your say.
You must have had your say in a way that feels safe to you.
You and the adult should work together to make a decision.
The adult should listen to you and try to understand what you mean as best as they can.
When deciding something, the adult should first think about whether it can be the way you want it to be.
If you have expressed your opinion and the adult wants to decide something different, the adult should explain properly why they think it is in your best interests.
After the adult has explained, you can state your opinion again. Maybe you can now explain something you haven’t explained before, so that the adult can better understand why what you want is important to you for you to be happy
If the adult is going to decide something against your will, they must always try their best to find some solutions that will at least make something a little better for you