Talk for change

Find out how young people have been involved in talking for change:

• Talking to Ed Balls about ChildLine and why it’s so important

  On Tuesday 2 February 2010 Lucy, Shane, Farzana and Charlene met up with Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Education, Schools and Families (basically the top man for anything to do with children in the government) to tell him just how important ChildLine is and why it’s so important that the government keep giving money to support it.
  
  In the meeting they told Ed about how many children and young people ChildLine has helped, and they told him about the messages you had posted for him in January, including what you said you liked about ChildLine online (that it’s a great place to get advice on how to stay safe and stress free, that it doesn’t matter how big or small the worry is, that there are loads of great things to do on there, and that sometimes it’s easier to write stuff down instead of telling people over the phone).
  
  At the end of the meeting Lucy, Shane, Farzana and Charlene asked Ed for a message to give to you. This is what he said:
  
  What I’d really like to say is that the reason we funded ChildLine in the first place was to do with the important role it plays in supporting children and young people and to sort of fill in a gap. If it wasn’t there, there would be lots of children and young people who wouldn’t know where to turn. And the reason why we carried on doing the funding is obviously because the evidence says, all the users are telling us, you are telling us, that it makes a huge difference to the lives of children and young people. The fact that confidentially they can talk about things which matter to them and get good advice from people who are properly trained, that’s really important. And so we are absolutely determined to do whatever it takes to make sure that ChildLine carries on into the future.
  
  Read the full report of the meeting written by young people

• Meeting the Government’s UK Council for Child Internet Safety to share their ideas about social networking sites and keeping safe online

  In October 2009, six young people met with the Government’s UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) to talk about safety issues surrounding social networking sites. In the meeting they spoke about:
  
  • younger children being able to register on social networking sites meant for over thirteen-year-olds
  • social networking sites not doing enough to find and remove offensive material and not acting quickly enough when they are told about offensive material or behaviour
  • parents not knowing enough about how to help their children stay safe on social networking sites.
  
  On the 8 December 2009 three of the young people joined a young people's panel at the UKCCIS summit, where Prime Minister Gordon Brown launched Click Clever Click Safe, the UK Government's Child Internet Safety Strategy. They joined 11 other young people to share their views on internet safety and answer questions from people from industry (including Google, Bebo and Facebook), government and charities.

• Talking to Dawn Primarolo, Minister for Children about Domestic Violence and how it affects children and young people

  In June 2009, as part of the ‘Vote out domestic violence’ campaign, 11 young people met the Children’s Minister Dawn Primarolo MP to present the campaign petition and talk about the effect domestic violence has on children and young people. The Minister promised to use their comments in the development of the Government's violence against women and girls. In November 12 young people who had personal experience of domestic violence met with the Children’s Minister again to find out how their views had influenced  the strategy. The Minister was also joined by representatives from the Ministry of Justice.
  
  At the meeting they learnt that the government had promised more than £13 million to help victims of sexual and domestic violence; that there would be more training of professionals, especially teachers, to help them support children affected by violence; and that learning about domestic violence and staying safe would be part of the school curriculum from September 2010.

• Getting together to think about how young people can get involved in campaigning and lobbying to persuade politicians to change things for children

  In January 2008 25 young people got together at Chelsea Football Stadium to think about how they could get involved in influencing the Government to end cruelty to children and improve children’s lives.
  
  Over the day young people discussed different types of abuse, explored different ways of campaigning and influencing, and even got to develop campaign ideas. The top policy areas identified by the group were: protecting deaf and disabled children from abuse; young people who show harmful sexual behaviour; bullying; and domestic violence. Campaign ideas were developed around all of these areas, and - one group of young people considered how to run a campaign on banning smacking.
  
  Over 100 young people at other events in London and Manchester also voted on priority policy areas. Overall - the top three areas identified by young people were bullying, ending child deaths and protecting deaf and disabled children from abuse.

• Talking to Ed Balls and the children’s minister about tackling violence against children and young people

  On 24 October 2007, at the end of the 100 Days campaign, young people came together with influential decision makers to talk about violence and to ask questions and offer solutions to tackling violence in young people's lives.
  
  The decision makers were the secretary of state for children, schools and families, the children's commissioner, the director of children's services for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, and the chief executive of the NSPCC. Celebrity campaigner June Sarpong chaired the discussion.
  
  Young people talked about bullying, gang violence in the community and the need for tougher sentences for people who are violent, especially when the violence is in the home. Ideas for tackling these problems included peer mentoring schemes and effective bullying strategies, youth services to encourage young people to choose more positive ways of living their lives and personalised support services for young people who experience abuse. The young people also gave their top tips for staying safe where young people live, in school and in the community.