Children & Society – Investing in children: Learning how to promote the rights of all children, Vol. 15

Investing in children is a County Durham initiative, which seeks to create opportunities for children and young people to become genuine participants in the decision making processes. This paper provides an inside account on how the initiative was developed. It describes how a model of practice has evolved through which young people have been able to achieve a measure of genuine participation, leading to real change in policy. The paper explores some of the issues which have frustrated the translation of the rhetoric of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into a reality recognized by young people in the United Kingdom. It is proposed that an approach based upon the universal rights of all children, pursuing an agenda identified by children and young people themselves, has more potential for political change than separate debates about the plight of particular groups of young people. The paper also suggests that the participation (or more often consultation) is not an end in itself, but a means by which young people can achieve political change.