Children and young people's rights in child protection

We support children and young people who are age 5 and over. You have important rights in child protection.

You have a right to:

• be safe
• be well looked after
• have your say and be listened to

If you feel sad, scared or worried or hurt you can go to adults for help, like:

• your parents or carers
• a nurse
• a teacher
• a social worker
• a police officer

Being safe and well looked after

Adults who keep you safe might talk about child protection. This is when adults come together to make sure you are safe. They may want to talk to you and others in your family to make sure you are getting the right support.

If someone becomes very worried or concerned about you and thinks you might not be safe, they should pass on the worries they have to adults who can support you. Adults whose job it is to keep you safe can work together with you and take action.

Being listened to

A really important right you have is for adults to listen to you and that is where we can come in as we can help you think about what you want to say and make sure your views are heard.

You have the right for adults to listen carefully to you when deciding what to do next. We can be there just for you so you can understand what is going on.

If there are special meetings organised then we can get to know you and help you think about what you want to say at your meeting. At the meeting everyone will talk about what is going on and make a plan about making things better and safer for you.

How we can support you

We can support you by:

• Getting to know you and being there just for you
• Supporting your right to be listened to and be safe and ensure adults make decisions that are best for you
• Helping with your views and sharing these with adults
• Helping you at meetings, if there are any, and support you there if you want to go
• Standing up for your right to be listened to
• Helping you understand the decisions that adults make

Anything you tell us is confidential. We will not discuss it with any other person without your permission, unless we think you or someone is not safe. We would always tell you who we are talking to about that.

See the two videos below telling you how we can support you.

View the children’s rights support in child protection leaflet (PDF 321KB).