Family Justice Young People’s Board deliver virtual Voice of the Child 2021 conference

The Family Justice Young People’s Board (FJYPB) have once again brought partners from across the family justice system, including colleagues in Cafcass, together during their annual Voice of the Child conference, to focus on and discuss the needs of children and young people going through the family courts.

The theme for this year’s conference – delivered virtually over a series of webinars – was ‘communication’. During these webinars, members of the FJYPB spoke of the importance of representing the voice of the child with clear and jargon-free language to make them feel heard and understood.

Members also discussed the ways that professionals can best communicate with children about their diversity, not only by asking questions but also trying to understand what may be important to them. They asked that attendees consider, in their work with children and young people, that communication is more than language; that it is about every interaction, including the information that is provided by all professionals to children and young people going through the family courts.

One member of the Family Justice Young People’s Board said:

“We would like to thank everyone for joining our 9th Voice of the Child conference. We were able to bring to life our key messages on communication and hope that attendees will take our key messages away and share them with their team and keep up to date with all our work on our webpage on the Cafcass website.”

Another member said:

“This week we had three webinars take place. We want to thank everyone for coming and getting involved. It was really great to see everybody taking away our key messages and hope that they share these within their teams.”

Further information from the conference will be shared to the Cafcass website over the coming weeks. Find out more about the work of the Family Justice Young People’s Board on FJYPB page.