Children First co-production charter for working with parents, carers and children
Commitment to building collaborative meaningful partnerships; starting with what really matters.
“At West Sussex County Council we believe embracing co-production can lead to effective, sustainable, and responsive services. This is our commitment for working together. We believe we must create inclusive environments that value the contributions of all those involved, ultimately resulting in better outcomes for individuals and communities.”
What is co-production?
Co-producing with parents and children involves creating collaborative partnerships where their insights and experiences shape decision-making for individuals, services and policies.
For example:
- Individual level: School staff meet with parents, carers and children before writing an individual support plan, and then the plan is written co-productively.
- Operational level: Parents, carers, children and young people work together to create a school behaviour policy.
- Strategic: Parents, carers, children and professionals work together to create a long-term plan, using data and case studies to develop a support service for young carers.
Key aspects of co-production
- Collaboration: Individuals actively participate in decision making about themselves / those they care for, including the design, delivery and evaluation of services, rather than being presented information.
- Learning: Participants learn from each other, leading to skills, and trust within the community.
- Empowerment: Co-production empowers groups by giving them a voice in decision-making processes, rebalancing power dynamics between all involved.
- Innovation: Diverse perspectives can lead to creative solutions.
- Equal footing: Address historical power imbalances, fostering mutual respect, ensuring that all individuals have an equal say and influence in decision-making processes.
In order to co-produce, you should:
- listen to each other and demonstrate that we have taken on board what each other has communicated.
- communicate in an easy-to-understand way
- support individuals to take part, by making reasonable adjustments
- always be open, honest and realistic
- involve individuals in decisions, so they are there as part of the decision-making processes and if decisions are made without individuals, explain why
- act upon people's views
- treat individuals with respect and dignity
- give individuals the tools they need to feel safe to enable them to share experiences
- provide individuals with information, which is accurate, timely, accessible and consistent
- involve individuals at the earliest opportunity and set out clear guidelines and any limitations of projects