How a youth-led national project led to the development of Changing Futures: Tusla’s child and youth website.
Background Information
The project in which we involved young people in decision-making
We wanted children’s and young people’s views on how Tusla could respond to their needs. The consultations with children and young people led to the development of www.changingfutures.ie, a youth-led national project, created and developed entirely by young people with lived experience of Tusla services. The Changing Futures website has information about Tusla and gives children and young people an easy way to make direct contact with Tusla.
The topic on which we were looking for their views
We wanted the views of children and young people on what Tusla could do for them. At the initial consultation, which was called Agenda Day™, the children and young people decided they wanted more child-friendly information about Tusla services by creating a dedicated website with short videos of staff explaining their role and not too much text.
The reason we wanted their views
We wanted to better serve the needs of children and young people.
The decision-makers that facilitated and listened to their views
The Tusla Senior Prevention, Partnership and Family Support (PPFS) Manager and Senior Child & Family Support (CFSN) Co-ordinator were initially responsible for listening and acting on the wishes of young people. The local Tusla area was asked to scale up the initiative to a national website in April 2017. Therefore, the decision-makers (Audience) changed from being the local inter-agency committee to the Tusla National Office. In September 2017, we arranged for a local college, Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT) to assign a website design class project for Changing Futures with the young people’s research group as the ‘client’. By the end of 2017 the class had created 14 designs and the research group chose their favourite.
The age profile of the children and young people
The children and young people we consulted with were aged 8 to 17 years old and facilitated by young adults in their early 20s all with lived experience of Tusla services.
How we gave space, voice, audience and influence to young people’s views
SPACE
How we ensured a safe and inclusive space to hear the views of young people
Things we considered
What we did
The space or setting where we got their views (this may include online settings)
In May 2016, Tusla in Dublin Southeast/Wicklow held an Agenda Day™ with over 40 children known to our local services, aged 8 to 17 years. This was an ‘adult free space’ and the facilitators were young adults with lived experience of Tusla. We used a local accessible youth centre for our Agenda Days™.
We used the family room in a local community-based family support service for subsequent Research Group meetings. Each research group session started with pizza and an increasingly competitive game of ‘Dobble’. If you haven’t played it you really should!
How you identified the children and young people to be involved
We identified children and young people for the Agenda Days via the member organisations of our two local multi-agency PPFS Steering Committees and the local Tusla social work department staff.
We contacted other Tusla child participation projects across the country for our regional consultations.
How you involved those who were directly affected by the topic
We approached children and young people with lived experience of Tusla services for our Agenda Days™, research group and regional consultations.
How early in the process they were involved in decision-making
The children and young people were involved from the beginning when we decided to hold an Agenda Day™ to ask them what they wanted before completing our child participation funding application.
We held two follow-up Agenda Days™ to give feedback and explore the concept of a website specifically for young people with information about Tusla services.
How the process was inclusive and accessible
We issued an open invitation to children and young people known to our services for the Agenda Days™, research group and regional consultations.
VOICE
How we gave young people a voice in decisions
Things we considered
What we did
How we informed young people about the topics on which we wanted their views
In May 2016, Tusla in Dublin South East/Wicklow held an Agenda Day™ with over 40 children known to our local services, aged 8 to 17 years.
We decided to ask an open questions of the children and young people so as not to influence their decisions.
They all had the experience of their families receiving a service, so we informed them that we wanted to know: “What do you want from Tusla?”
How we made sure they knew their views would be taken seriously
We created a research group from the Agenda Day™ participants to act as the key decision-makers for driving the suggestions that would arise from the Agenda Day and the remainder of the project.
We facilitated them to report back to the local committee and later the national oversight committee (when the project became a national website).
The Senior CFSN Co-ordinator facilitated the process and the research group met over 100 times.
How we informed them about level of influence they could have on decision-making
We promised to keep the research group as the decision-makers in all aspects of the process.
We also explained the limits of their decision making e.g. the website could be separate from the Tusla website but must be managed/owned by Tusla.
The methods we used to get their views
We got their views through Agenda Days™ and regional consultations which were young person-led.
The children and young people were asked an open question about what Tusla could do for them.
A research group was selected at the Agenda Day™ as the key decision makers throughout the project.
The Agenda Day™ started by welcoming the children/young people with pizza and refreshments.
The young adult facilitators then did ‘ice breakers’ before beginning the consultation based on our open question: “What do you want from Tusla?”.
The participants all joined a small group with a young adult facilitator working with each.
We provided arts and crafts materials so that the children and young people had the choice to express their views in words and pictures.
Each facilitator summarised the feedback from each group.
The research group started by looking at design issues like the name, logo, colours, images and layout.
How we made sure they could identify topics they wanted to discuss
The consultation methods used at the Agenda Days™ ensured that there was space for children and young people to raise issues that mattered to them.
Please describe the topics and issues they raised
The children and young people at the Agenda Days™ decided they wanted more child-friendly information about Tusla services by creating a dedicated website with short videos of staff explaining their role and not too much text.
The research group suggested video clips of staff explaining what they do and not too much text. They decided to call the website ‘Changing Futures’.
AUDIENCE
How we made sure that there was an audience (decision-makers) for young people’s views
Things we considered
What we did
How we developed a report or record of the young people’s view
The website is a record of the young people’s views in action including a secure contact page for young people to message Tusla social work duty teams around the country.
How we checked back with them that their views were accurately represented
The research group were key decision-makers and were asked for their input at regular meetings, give feedback on the ways their views were being represented and kept informed of all decisions and developments in the project.
In addition to the regular meetings of the research group, we conducted follow-up Agenda Days™ and regional consultations throughout the process. As the content and design of the website developed, we consulted on it with over 150 children and young people from around the country.
How we involved the decision-makers who are responsible for influencing change (other than yourself)
The Tusla Senior Prevention, Partnership & Family Support (PPFS) Manager and Senior Child & Family Support (CFSN) Co-ordinator were initially responsible for acting on the wishes of the young people.
The local Tusla area was asked to scale up the initiative to a national website in April 2017. Therefore, the ‘Audience’ changed from being the local inter-agency committee to Tusla National Office. In September 2017, we arranged for a local college IADT to assign a website design class project for Changing Futures with the research group as the ‘client’. By the end of 2017 the class had created 14 designs and the research group chose their favourite.
We met with the local services but then met with Tusla’s national operations team to seek approval for building the website. Tusla’s national lead for PPFS gave us additional funding following her attendance with Laura Lundy at a workshop input by the young adult facilitators about Agenda Days™ at Tusla’s national child participation conference in 2017. The research group presented at Tusla’s national child participation conference in 2018 which Tusla’s CEO and COO attended. They then gave formal approval for the website build.
At what point we involved decision makers other than yourself in the process
The Tusla Senior Prevention, Partnership & Family Support (PPFS) Manager and Senior Child & Family Support (CFSN) Co-ordinator were involved in this initiative from the start.
The national lead for PPFS asked us to scale up the project to a national website and gave us additional funding. Tusla’s national operations team got involved once the website concept was ready to be built.
How we and other decision-makers showed our commitment to listening to, and acting on young people’s views
Tusla National Office agreed to an innovative approach for us to chair a national oversight committee where the research group could present their views to all directorates together. Ordinarily, we would have to go to each part of the organisation separately for any new policy or initiative.
Tulsa senior managers listened to the research group, approved the website build and attended the launch with the Minister for Children in March 2019. They also gave approval for the development of a secure contact page on the website so any child can now contact their local social work team.
How we supported young people to play a role in communicating their own views to decision-makers
The research group reported back to the local committee and later to the national oversight committee. Tusla’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) agreed to set up a national oversight committee so the research group could present their views at one forum with all Tusla directorates present.
We launched the website on 5th March 2019 as a celebration of all the work the research group had done. The website went live that day. We wanted to ‘go large’ for the young people so we booked Dublin Castle and invited the Minister for Children to formally launch the website. We made sure half the audience of 300 were young people; the research group were centre stage and there were minimal adult speeches. ‘Fighting Words’ worked with the research group to script and rehearse their ‘spoken’ storytelling for the launch. It was a fantastic day, with the young people’s personal stories stealing the show and hardly a dry in the house.
INFLUENCE
How young people were given updates at key points in the development of the plan
Things we considered
What we did
How we informed young people about the topics on which we wanted their views
In addition to the regular meetings of the research group, we conducted follow-up Agenda Days™ and regional consultations throughout the process.
As the content and design of the website developed, we consulted on it with over 150 children and young people from around the country.
How their views were acted on by the appropriate decision-makers (what happened to their views)
In addition to the regular meetings of the research group, we conducted follow-up Agenda Days™ and regional consultations throughout the process.
As the content and design of the website developed, we consulted on it with over 150 children and young people from around the country. The third website page for younger children aged 6 to 9 years went live on 29th May 2020. This complemented to original two pages for 10- to 15-year-olds and 16- to 18-year-olds. Part of the original request from the young people was to provide a child-friendly way for children and young people to contact Tusla directly.
A secure child friendly ‘Get in Touch’ contact page went live in September 2021. These messages go straight to the young person’s local social work team. The ‘Futures Feed’ news page was also designed to host and promote other child and youth participation work within Tusla.
Whether we continually checked back with children and young people about the ways you used their views with decision-makers (if possible or appropriate)
The research group were regularly involved in meetings with key Tusla decision-makers.
Tusla staff also represented their views directly to Tusla’s Chief Operations Manager (COO) and CEO when the research group could not attend meetings.
How they were given full and age-appropriate feedback explaining how their views were used (or not) and the reasons for decisions taken
Young people were given feedback at the follow-up Agenda Days™, and regional consultations, in addition to the continued engagement by Tulsa decision-makers with the research group.
How we enabled them to evaluate the process throughout
The Investing in Children award process includes a review assessment, which was the formal method we used to allow the young people to evaluate their involvement.
What young people said in the evaluation
Comments from young people during the ‘Investing in Children’ Award Evaluation:
About Agenda Days™: “There was pizza, there were loads of games, really fun because it was chilled and relaxed, it was easier to talk to young people facilitators. We wanted to have an adult-free zone.”
About the website development: “The agenda group could not get all the work done, we needed a research group to do all the work, we have a country theme and a city theme [on the website design] to include everyone, we wanted different age groups, we wanted to know exactly what they do [Tusla staff], we had to write stuff because there wasn’t much out there, we had to check what they were up to, that it was what we wanted [web design students], the winner had listened to exactly what we said, you have a week to relax, next week a meeting, then a week to relax, people come when they can come, no pressure [research group meetings], after the conference we are definitely going to Tayto Park.”
Impact
Tusla now has a national website with information on its services for young people by young people. Tusla has also created a secure way for children and young people to directly contact their local duty social work team. We are not aware that any other national social services organisation has either of these nationally available facilities for children and young people.
The learning for our organisation
The key learning for our organisation from the process and outcome (end result) of involving children or young people in this initiative
Children and young people can be trusted to express their views and identify what they want. As adults and professionals, we can let go of the idea that we know best what children need. When we ask children and young people for their opinions, they tell us clearly. Since undertaking this project the principle of asking children and young people has become integral to how we work with children and young people, and it always throws up surprising results.
Some of our key learnings:
Before you make any decisions about an initiative, start by asking children and trust their ability to speak for themselves. Using adult-free spaces to consult with children and young people and trust the young adult facilitators’ lived experiences will help the young people say what they want.
Make the process fun. If it’s going to be meaningful it will be about group relationships and individual personal development for the young people, as much as the overall task.
You need a ‘champion’ with 1:1, group work and project management skills to facilitate the process. They must be given the time to do things properly: process, task and relationships are equally important.
Protect the children and young people as the decision-makers throughout. Recognise their expertise about their own lived experience, including some financial reward for giving their time.
Keep a feedback loop with the children and young people. Tell them what you can’t do as well as what you can do.
Engage with the senior decision-makers in your organisation as soon as you have a proposal which demonstrates the value of your idea.
Keep your promises and celebrate at the end.
Looking back, how did the final outcome compare with our initial assumptions and those of other decision-makers involved in the process?
The children and young people as decision-makers wanted child-friendly information in the form of short video clips and not too much text and this is what we were able to deliver. The staff involved were not experienced in producing a website, but we were able to deliver. Tusla national office provided the additional funding required but the main challenge was keeping the process child friendly.
What worked well?
A Tusla national oversight committee helped the young people have their views heard in one place rather than have to navigate the complex national office structures. Working with young adults in IADT to design the website and film the content worked well because the research group could relate to them easily and it kept the idea of young people being able to do these things themselves with some adult support. The local Senior PPFS Manager and Senior CFSN Co-ordinator were responsible for acting on the views of the young people and more importantly for protecting them as decision-makers in the process once it became a national project when it could easily have been ‘taken over’ by Tusla’s more senior structures. Having the Senior CFSN Co-ordinator as a ‘champion’ to drive the project was essential. The task would not have been completed without a dedicated staff member with both the social work skills to facilitate the process for the young people and also the time and technical and project management skills to coordinate the building of a website.
What the young people involved in the research group said about the process:
“Hey! We are the young people behind the Changing Futures website. We all come from different backgrounds, but we share the same experience of getting help from Tusla. It’s these experiences that have shaped the website. Tusla realised the importance of this website and gave us full control. We came up with everything from the name, logo, colours, design, images and layout. We spent lots of time writing and rewriting the language and tackled lots of big scary words like “access” and “care plan” because when you understand the words, they aren’t that scary anymore. We made lots of videos and they are a big part of this website because we feel young people are more likely to get their information from watching videos. We filmed workers from Tusla that explained their roles in a child-friendly way. We filmed lots of young people that have a positive experience of being involved with Tusla too – this is the best part of the website because it shows other young people that getting support is OK. We really believe that giving young people information empowers them to be more involved in making decisions about their own lives and we hope this website will be a tool to help this.”
Two Irish Times articles interviewing the young people:
If we were doing it again, is there anything we would do differently?
When we asked the open question about what young people wanted from Tusla at the first Agenda Day™ we did not realise the journey we were entering. The dedication of the Senior CFSN Co-ordinator to the project was immeasurable. She met with the research group over 100 times over a 3-year period. We have debated whether we should have looked for more staff resources from Tusla’s national office to undertake this work. However, keeping the coordination of a national project at the local level, ensured that the research group’s role as decision-makers could be fully protected. So, while this was an onerous task for a local area it worked from a child and youth participation point of view.
For more details contact: Lindsay Markey, Tusla Senior Child & Family Support Co-ordinator lindsay.markey@tusla.ie
