Children and youth rights information

What you talk to us about is private and confidential and we will not tell anyone else without your permission.  However, it is our duty to involve other services if we feel that what you tell us puts you or another person at risk - if this happens we will always talk things through with you first.

What are children and young people's rights?

'Children's or Young People's Rights' is a term or a phrase that you may hear quite a lot.  Lots of people talk about how they 'have rights' or how they know or maybe don't know their rights.  What are these 'rights' that they are talking about?

Well, children's rights are a set of promises that have been made to all children and young people so that they are protected in different areas of their lives such as at home or school.  All children and young people have these rights up to the age of 18 and in some cases where further support is needed, up to the age of 21.

Some of your rights are:

• The right to have your views listened to and taken seriously on ALL matters affecting you
• The right to be protected from being hurt or treated badly
• The right to protection from discrimination
• The right to a good enough standard of living

Responsibilities

All children and young people have rights and the government has committed to ensuring that all children's rights are respected.  However, there are three things that we all need to understand:

1. Everyone has rights (Including adults)
2. Rights also come with a set of important responsibilities
3. Rights will only work if people remember these responsibilities

Many people get a little bit confused about some of their rights. In particular:

We all have the right to think and believe what we like. However, we also have the responsibility to accept and respect that everyone else has the right to think what they like too.  Also we all have the right to be listened to and have our opinion taken seriously.  But, we all have the responsibility to listen to others and to take their opinions seriously too.  In other words, Rights are a two way street and they will only work for you if you respect other people's rights.

Children and youth rights workers

Our children and youth rights and independent advocacy workers will:

• Listen to you and respect you and your views
• Explain what your rights and responsibilities are
• Help you speak out and be listened to

You can get in touch with the Council's Children's Rights Officer by phoning 01738 474584.  You can also email youthrights@pkc.gov.uk.

You can get in touch with Independent Advocacy Perth and Kinross by calling 01738 587887 or completing the contact form on their website.

It doesn't matter which worker you contact as both will do their best to help you, and they will put you in touch with the right worker for you.

Youth Rights Service

Providing rights information and support for all children and young people in Perth and Kinross up to the age of 25. What we do:

• Provide information for young people about their rights and responsibilities
• Provide a service as required where we can speak on a young person's or child's behalf if they need us to
• Provide a confidential service helping children or young people to speak to us and make their views known
• Make people aware of the rights of young people in a variety of ways (workshops, informal activities, talks, drop-ins)
• Provide advice and information for parents, carers and other professionals about youth rights