Introduction to Communicating with Children 3
Social workers with more than 2 years experience

The Welfare Checklist (Children Act 1989) and The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child identifies that in any decisions on welfare of children and young people, their wishes and feelings ( considered in the light of age and understanding) must be taken into account. Participation rights are particularly relevant in respect of emphasising the duty of social workers to inform children and young people of the consequences of decisions and seek to work in partnership with them.

Recent research indicates that in completing core assessments, social workers express a commitment to understanding and finding out about children and young people. However the same research study, analysing core assessment reports indicated that they frequently portrayed narrowly defined and negative aspects of children’s identities. Other research indicates that children and young people know what many of their needs are and if social workers create the right conditions, children and young people will express their views and feelings.

Bureaucracy and lack of confidence in their own abilities can be a major
barrier to social workers creating conditions to learn from and communicate with children in order to gauge their understanding. It is important to acknowledge the challenge faced by social workers in communicating with children and young people who may have limited trust in professionals. This course will assist Social Workers to enable children and young people to express their own narrative about what is important to them in their lives.

Key concepts from communication theory will be utilised to identify how
to create conditions for children and young people to express themselves. This entails becoming familiar and confident with a range of methods to engage with children and young people.

Communication also involves the way in which social workers explain their role and give information about the limits to decision making. Issues of boundaries, degree of self disclosure and confidentiality are essential in promoting effective communication with children and young people.

The learning objectives:

By the end of this course learners should understand:

• How to apply key concepts of communication theory to their interactions with children and young people
• The importance of balancing bureaucratic constraints with spending time with children and young people and how this reflects professional beliefs and organisational constraints
• Their preferred communication style in giving information and how to develop this in order to fit with children and young people’s needs to develop their understanding of decisions which affect their lives
• The importance of developing a range of methods to assist children and young people to develop their understanding ,and express a narrative about the important aspects of their lives

Learning methods:

• Self evaluation exercise: skills- challenge matrix
• Tutor presentations
• Experiential Exercises
• Handouts
• Small group work
• PowerPoint
• Group Discussion