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Hero Background
Hero Background

Children’s Rights Approach

At the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for Jersey we adopt a Child Rights Approach – a practical and principled framework grounded in the UNCRC, designed to ensure children are seen as active rights-holders, not merely objects of care.

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What does this mean in real terms? It means that in every decision, policy review or service development, we ask: how are we embedding children’s rights? Are children and young people participating? Are we looking at equality, non discrimination, accountability? Are children’s views meaningfully considered? Are systems designed with children’s rights in mind, not simply adult convenience?

In practice this means:

  • We involve children and young people in shaping our work because their experiences matter and their views count.
  • We support awareness and understanding of rights so children know they have them, and can claim them.
  • We advocate for services and policies to respect the best interests of the child and recognise children’s evolving capacities.
  • We challenge services and decisions that treat children as passive or invisible – and highlight where systems fail to respond to their rights.

By consistently applying this approach we aim to transform how professionals, services and wider society think about children: from “what is done for children” to “what children are entitled to”. This shift doesn’t just benefit individual children – it builds a stronger, fairer and more rights-respecting community in Jersey.

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What this means

  • We put children at the heart of decisions that affect them.
  • We listen to children.
  • We include children in conversations about their lives.

We make sure:

  • Children are treated fairly
  • Children are heard
  • Children get the support they need