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8/2/2019 Involved by Right Project Newsletter 2

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FOR PROJECT STAKEHOLDERS AND PROFESSIONALS

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Wlcom ad Iroducio

Welcome to this second newsletter for the

Involved by Right project!

In October, we were treated to some exceptional

hospitality during the transnational meeting in

Bassano Del Grappa. We received a warm welcome

by the Town City Mayor Dr. Stefano Cimatti who

delivered a speech about the importance of the EUgrant and international collaboration to promote

and protect the rights and welfare of children. We

were told that the meeting was hosted in Palazzo

Sturm to give us the best view of the town and from

the terrace we could see Ponte Vecchio, the old

wood covered bridge, and the stunning mountain

backdrop. The pictures show the dcor of the palatial

rooms, and looking up there were painted angels

watching over the proceedings.

The town museum was conveniently situated in the

Palazzo, and a guided talk was arranged to learn

about the local history and the rich culture of the

Veneto region. We enjoyed a further guided tour

around the art gallery in the convent of San Francesco.
http://www.barnardos.org.uk/http://www.regione.veneto.it/channelshttp://europa.eu/http://www.ncb.org.uk/http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/http://www.helsingborg.se/


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Claudia Bontorin and Lisa Cerantola had made

considerable efforts to arrange a programme to help

us learn as much as possible about the child welfare

and protection system in the region. It included a mix

of presentations, study visits and workshops with

young representatives from the Youth Advisory Boards

(YAB) from Italy, England and Sweden. A youngpersons account of the Italy trip is featured in this

newsletter with a summary of activities and outcomes

from the meeting - including young peoples views

about the role and function of the YAB.

A particularly memorable part was a listening exercise

to capture information accurately. The group was

asked to divide into pairs and was given coloured

pens and a blank piece of paper. They sat back to

back and one of the pair was asked to try to draw

an exact copy of a picture being drawn by the other,

by listening to their step-by-step instructions. Some

people drew fairly accurate pictures but most got

some good laughs! The exercise was designed to

show that advocacy is about listening and not making

assumptions or judgments about what is being

said. The experience was used to help stimulate

a discussion about the importance of listening to

children and the role of advocacy in child protection.

In this edition, we put the spotlight on Ivana La Vallewho is the Director of the National Childrens Bureaus

Research Centre. Ivana and the NCB research team

are leading the research work stream, and undertaking

the pilot fieldwork study in Kensington and Chelsea.

We are now saying goodbye to Jonathan Williams,

the operational project manager in Kensington and

Chelsea who has made a significant contribution

to the project. Jonathan helped set up the project

and has been the driving force behind developing

the Involved by Right Child Protection Conference

model. He will take up a senior safeguardingmanagement position in Harrow, London and we

hope to keep him in the IBR project family for

mutual support and continued shared learning.

We are welcoming Lisa Aldridge who will take over

operational project management responsibilities.

Lisa will be overseeing the implementation of the

pilot field-work study in Kensington and Chelsea,

and provide management support to implement

international and local YAB objectives.


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I am pleased to announce that the project budget

has been approved by the EU Commission. Elena

Golcic deserves a special mention for getting us to

the finish line which means that we can finally get

the online budget reporting tool up and running.

The aim is to finish this work before Elena goes on

maternity leave at the end of March 2012.

Alongside the Involved by Right project, Kensington

and Chelsea is preparing to take on host borough

responsibilities for the Olympic Games in 2012.

The volleyball competitions will be staged at the

Earls Court arena, and the open road cycle road

race will go past some famous landmarks. The

Council is bringing cultural events to the redeveloped

Exhibition Road area to contribute to the festivities of

the Olympic events. The interest in the Games will of

course make it harder to visit London in the summer,

and the YAB residential workshop is now provisionally

booked to take place in mid-September 2012.

I hope you will enjoy reading about the progress of the

Involved by Right project, and your support to help

achieve the targets ahead of us in 2012 is much valued.

Camilla Webster

Involved by Right Lead Project Manager

e: [email protected]


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Abou h ProjcThe Involved by Right project is funded by the EU

Daphne programme to deliver the following priority in

the period of 2011-2013:

Field-work at grass roots level with involvementof children, young people and/or women to

empower them to protect themselves and their

peers against violence.

The Involved by Right projects mission is to advance

advocacy and participation rights for children in the

child protection system. The project is delivered in

partnership with the Royal Borough of Kensington

and Chelsea, Barnardos, National Childrens Bureau

(NCB) and European partners (Italy, Sweden). It aims

to realise the aspirations of Articles 3 and 12 of theUN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)

for children to be listened to in child protection and

residential care. The intentions of the project are

modelled through Youth Advisory Boards to empower

young people to steer the project and develop

resources to increase childrens participation in decision

making processes. The project runs alongside an

international research programme overseen by NCB,

and the findings will be published in early 2013.


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The transnational meeting took place in Palazzo

Sturm and from the terrace we had a stunning view

of Ponte Vecchio, the covered wooden bridge overthe river Brenta and mountain backdrop.

We were given a guided tour of the museum at the

Palazzo to learn about the works of the Remondini

family of printers who were in operation in Bassano

from 1634-1861. During the guided tour we were

shown objects from the collection which included

games, playing cards, wallpaper decorative prints,

woodcuts of saints and other popular objects. A

further guided tour took place in a gallery situated in

the convent of San Francesco to admire the works of

native Bassano painters.

The meeting had been planned to facilitate the

involvement of two Youth Advisory Board (YABs)

representatives from each of the three countries. Itwas the first time that the project brought together

young people with different languages and cultural

backgrounds in an unfamiliar setting. We felt it

was important for young people to get to know

each other, and help the group communicate as

effectively as possible through the involvement

of youth workers already known to them and

translation assistance. To start off the group activity,

the Steering Committee asked young people to

explore the following three questions:

How do you want to participate?

How do you want to influence the project?

How do you want to share your experiences of

the project?

nwsSummary from the transnational meeting 23-26 October, 2011


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The YAB co-ordinator facilitated the group work

sessions, and the Steering Committee was provided

with the feedback that:

Young people want to be involved in meetings

to discuss and share experiences with

representatives from other countries.

YABs want to work together to come up with

topics or common themes for young people in

the different countries to discuss and compare.

Children in care would be helped by being

provided with leaflets to raise awareness of the

stigma of being in care in schools.

Young people want to lead and be involved

in the preparations and delivery of the next

steering group.Young people want to feedback experiences from

the meeting in local YABs and to Councillors.

It is important to promote YAB objectives

nationally, and to carry on discussions about

how to influence the project with other young

people who have experience of being in care.

Young people told the Steering Committee that

they had found it particularly valuable to discuss

similarities and what was different for young peoplein care in the three countries. Everyone agreed

unanimously that the YABs would be supported to

have an active role in planning and delivering the next

transnational meeting in Brussels 20-22 April, 2012.

The Italian team had worked hard to arrange study

visits to help transfer knowledge among partners.

By visiting a local childrens home and a fostering

and family centre we learned about child protection,

fostering and residential care services in the

Veneto region. Young people were given a guide

of a childrens home for girls, and were particularlyimpressed by the homely feel and the provision to

keep a resident dog. We heard about the importance

of community support, and that local volunteers had

put up a tree house in the garden for the enjoyment of

the children. A more detailed account from the visits is

available by emailing theLead Project Manager.
mailto:camilla.webster%40rbkc.gov.uk?subject=Lead%20Project%20Managermailto:camilla.webster%40rbkc.gov.uk?subject=Lead%20Project%20Managermailto:camilla.webster%40rbkc.gov.uk?subject=Lead%20Project%20Manager


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For those of you who do not know, some of us went to

Italy in October half-term. The project for the UK has

been the Youth Advisory Board: the voice of childrenand young people in care, and we are involved in

a bigger project called Involved By Right. The aim

of this four day trip was to interact with Italians and

Swedes who are doing similar projects to us, though

not the same, and share our ideas about what we

have done and what we could do to get children and

young people more involved in statutory processes.

On the first day we got there, we spent a whole day

in Verona which was beautiful (and ate ice cream). Wethen went to Bassano and checked into the hotel (which

was amazing!) and unpacked and relaxed before heading

off with Michael and Amanda to find somewhere to eat

around the town. When we got back to the hotel, we met

with the Swedes who had just arrived, and went up to

our hotel rooms to relax and go to bed.

On the second day, the adults got ready and went

to a meeting, whilst we went for a look around town.

We spent the day at an orphanage with the Italians

and Swedes getting to know each other (with thehelp of translators) and had a tour of the orphanage

and other similar types of accommodation. Later that

evening, we all went to a lovely restaurant near to

where we stayed (then went for ice cream) and then

returned to the hotel where we hung out with the

Swedish young people for a while.

On the third day, the last day in Bassano, we went

to one of the meetings with all of the adults from all

three countries. Each country split into their owngroups and the young people told the adults what

they thought about the project so far and their views

on their smaller projects. We decided to perform a

role play to them in order to get our views across,

and then we all had a discussion about how the

Youth Advisory Board is going. We also told them

about what we had been doing throughout the trip

and we showed them a few of the things we had

been discussing and brainstorming. In the evening,

we all went out to eat and, obviously, went for icecream afterwards (even though it had been raining

really heavily for the whole day).

We were in Venice for the final day, shopping and

sightseeing. It was so amazing because it is so

different there what with all the boats and water. We

went to St. Marco Square where we stayed all day

before heading back to the train station to get to the

airport. Although the flight to Italy was amazing, the

flight back to London was not so great. However,we all had an amazing time and are really excited

to share our experiences with the YAB! Thank

you Amanda and Michael for taking us on such a

wonderful trip!

A youg prsos accou of h Ialy ripOur trip to Italy!


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Sweden

The field-work study targets a group of young

people aged 13-20 years, and the emphasis is on

making a difference. The Youth Advisory Boardhas contributed with topics for the interviews in

the research undertaken by Save the Children. The

YAB questions were about: feeling listened to and

understood, being taken seriously and being cared

for by their social worker. It is envisaged that the

engagement with the YAB will help raise standards

and drive service improvement priorities.

The culture project is about exploring young peoples

meaning of involvement by engaging young people

in story-writing with a published author. There are

plans to start a blog, use music and creative media

to empower young people to express their views

of residential care. The aim is to support children to

achieve positive outcomes in their health, education

and well-being.

Italy

The field-work study will involve at least 60 children

in foster care, residential care and day care centres.

In the Veneto Region, there will be three social andHealth Local Authorities involved in the project

(A.Ulss n.3leader of the italian project, A.Ulss n.8,

A.Ulss n.15). Children in foster care and in residential

care will be brought together in different groups and

supported by the help of two facilitators to share

with each other, discuss and reflect among peers

their life experience, and to explain their opinions

about the decisions that the social services have

taken for them. The outcomes of the discussion

will be important to obtain feedback on the socialservices practices.

Four young people were selected as peer delegates

for children in care to take part in the transnational

meeting, and it is hoped that the experiences of

young people attending the transnational meeting

will strengthen future YAB developments. It is also

envisaged that the research will support further

developments to empower children in care to have

their voice heard.

Progrss i ach Coury


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RBKC and Barnardos

The advocacy service is now up and running and is

currently reaching about half of all children subject

to child protection planning. Staff have been trainedto take a participatory approach to involving children

in decision making processes to improve outcomes

for children who have been subjected to neglect and

child abuse.

There is also a programme of work in place to

implement Viewpoint consultations with young

people involved in child protection planning

processes. Viewpoint is a web-based interactive

engagement tool which is used to capture the

views of children through a questionnaire which is

embedded within the tool.


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17 February Working group meeting to prepare an

outline framework for the toolkit

7 March UK Advocacy and Participation meeting

hosted by Barnardos20-22 April Transnational meeting in Brussels

June - UK Advocacy and Participation meeting

hosted by NCB

Mid-Septmeber YAB residential in London

Mid-October Transnational meeting in

London, focus on research and preparations for

dissemination conference

2012 Caldar


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UK

Lead Agency Project Manager: Camilla Webster

Email: [email protected]

RBKC Operational Project Manager: Lisa AldridgeEmail: [email protected]

Barnardos Operational Project Manager:Alison Levy


NCB Project Manager: Nicola Murdoch


Sweden

Project Co-ordinator: Maria RosendahlEmail: [email protected]

Italy

Project Manager: Claudia Bontorin

Email: [email protected];

[email protected]

Projc Coacs


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Ivana La Valle is Director of the National Childrens

Bureau (NCB) Research Centre in London.

As a child what did you want to be when you

grew up?

I wanted to join the circus perhaps the urge for an

itinerant life that later brought me from Italy, where I

was born, to London!

When did you first turn towards a social

research career?

My first degree at City University was in Politics.

But it was the Research Methods module that really

excited me, since in comparison, say, with politicalphilosophy it held out the promise of practical

application. So I then did a Masters in Research

Methods at the Open University while working in

adult education in Hackney.

What was your first professional research job?

This was at the University of East London working

as the Research Assistant on a project on the

career paths of social workers. It gave me immenseadmiration for their work. After that I went to the

Institute of Employment Studies at Sussex University.

Spoligh O...Then next I joined the National Centre for Social

Research (NatCen) where I stayed for 11 years.

What has been your best professional moment?

Undoubtedly my move to NCB two years ago. What

I value is the contact with professionals and policy

thinkers in the organisation. For example, NCB was

instrumental in developing the Sure Start centre

concept. I strongly believe that effective changes in

policy or practice come from the close association of

researchers with practitioners.

and worst?

Not a personal moment, but I do regret the steadydevaluation of professional research skills that seems

underway. The term research is applied too casually

to poor quality work that just generates some numbers

that hit the headlines. It is not sufficient to just use

some online survey tool that requires no reflection on,

for example, sample or question design.


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Why is it important for the NCB research unit to

be part of the project?

There is very limited research evidence on the effects

of advocacy in child protection, the evaluation ofIBR will fill a very big gap in the evidence base and

provide important lessons for practice.

What has been the highlight so far?

The international dimension makes this project very

special for us, giving us a comparative perspective

and a stimulus to learn new ways of doing research.

We know that you speak both Italian and English

fluently but how is your Swedish?

I wish I could speak Swedish!

Thank you Ivana.

Download - Involved by Right Project Newsletter 2

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