The Family Justice Young People’s Board present their…TOP TIPS!

The Family Justice Young People’s Board (FJYPB) works to improve the services offered to every child and young person in family justice across England and Wales and to ensure every child and young person has a voice.

FJYPB members are aged between 7 – 25 years old and represent the views of children and young people from across England and Wales who are subject to family law proceedings (Public and Private).

All members have their own individual and diverse characteristics, abilities and needs and the FJYPB is fully inclusive for all children. It is these unique personalities and the experiences of members that enables them to represent the voice of the child and champion diversity within the Family Justice Service. Members share their experiences in work carried out both within and on behalf of the Family Justice Service including conferences, targeted workshops, training events and participation in various consultations.

You can find out more about the FJYPB  on the Cafcass website www.cafcass.gov.uk/family-justice-young-peoples-board

The FJYPB’s Top Tips for respecting diversity and inclusion
The FJYPB has developed a range of Top Tips to share with professionals across the Family Justice Service (and beyond). The FJYPB encourages all family justice professionals to read their Top Tips, share them with colleagues and embed them into practice. The FJYPB hopes that the Top Tips will help professionals better understand the diverse of needs of children and young people and suggest best practice tips.

1. Matthew’s Top Tips for professionals working with children and young people with Autism
Matthew (aged 15) has devised his Top Tips based on his own experiences of working with professionals throughout his court proceedings, and also from his life experiences. Matthew shared these tips at the, ‘Voice of the Child’ Conference in 2016 to an audience of stakeholders, and many of the attendees were so impacted by them that they further commissioned the FJYPB to deliver the Top Tips via presentations and workshops within their organisations. The purpose of these Top Tips was to educate professionals about working with children with autism and to enable them to communicate effectively with them to ensure full inclusion. You can view the written version of these top tips at www.cafcass.gov.uk/matthew_s_top_tips.pdf

2. Aleesha’s Top Tips for professionals working with children and young people with disabilities
Aleesha (aged 11) has cerebral palsy and has such a positive outlook to her abilities that she wanted to devise her tips to ensure that professionals understand the delicate and complex needs that children and young people with physical disabilities may have. You can view the written version of these top tips at www.cafcass.gov.uk/aleesha_s_top_tips.pdf

3. Sasha’s Top Tips for Family Court Advisers (Cafcass Cymru and Cafcass) working with children and young people
Sasha has helped develop these Top Tips for Cafcass/Cafcass Cymru FCAs who work with children and young people in the family courts, to encourage best practice. You can view the written version of these top tips at www.cafcass.gov.uk/sasha_s_top_tips.pdf

The FJYPB have devised these Top Tips for respecting diversity and effectively including children and young people within family justice. You can view the written version of these top tips via the links given above. Matthew, Aleesha and Sasha have also produced a film of their top tips – you can find these at www.youtube.com/channel/UCDQ81COg_ktcyuj6fp02-QQ/videos

What can you do next?

• Share this page with colleagues
• Use the videos in staff training
• Listen and learn from the videos.