Background:
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states that every child under the age of 18 has the right to be heard in all decisions that affect them. This includes children in kindergarten, schools, and children receiving support and help from public services. It also applies when the police or the justice system take actions or make decisions that affect children. This right belongs to all children, including the youngest. Leaders, public officials and politicians are responsible for ensuring that the groups of children affected by a decision are heard.
Why are young children so rarely invited to share their views? These are some of the explanations we have frequently heard from professionals and experts:
- Young children need to be protected and should not be expected to have opinions.
- Young children are often loyal to their parents and therefore may not answer honestly.
- Young children cannot know what is best for them in the long term.
What ChangeFactory does:
In recent years, ChangeFactory has focused on inspiring the systems that work with children to actively seek the views and perspectives of younger children as well. In 2021–2022, we carried out a national qualitative survey with 722 children in early childhood education and care (kindergartens). Read more here. We have also conducted qualitative surveys with: children from the age of 6 with experience of the child welfare service (read more here), children from the age of 8 whose families have received family guidance services (read more here), children from the age of 10 with experience of health services (read more here).
What ChangeFactory is doing now
- Explaining why young children must be heard in decisions that affect them, and the benefits this brings, based on more than a decade of experience.
- Working with Norwegian municipalities to identify and share good examples of how young children’s views contribute to better decision-making.
- Identifying examples from Europe and beyond where groups of young children are invited to express their views and influence decisions. These examples are presented at Children in decision-making


