THEAM – Training healthcare multidisciplinary teams on children’s rights and on child-friendly justice

THEAM aims at integrating training on children’s rights and child-friendly justice into regular national training and education curricula for professionals.

Grant Agreement Number: JUST/2014/RCHI/AG/PROF/7058

Funded by: REC        Duration: 15/11/2015 – 15/02/2017

Challenge

The EU Guidelines for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of the Child (2011) highlight that despite the number of adopted standards and instruments for the promotion and protection of children’s rights, “the daily reality for millions of children worldwide is still in sharp contrast to these commitments and objectives”.

Available European literature concerning children’s decision-making in healthcare clearly shows that children’s needs and rights of information and participation in decisions affecting their own health are not systematically respected. Professional’s knowledge, attitude and role, as well as parental education, are among the influential factors.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child has recommended to all EU member states the need to introduce systematic provision of training on children’s rights for all professionals working with minors.

Innovation

The project aims at training key professionals involved in the work with vulnerable children and integrating training on children’s rights and child-friendly justice into regular national training and education curricula for professionals.

Action

The project’s goals are:

• To train multidisciplinary teams working with children in the prevention of child maltreatment and juvenile delinquency and early intervention programmes at Primary Healthcare level on children’s rights and Child-Friendly Justice;
• To raise awareness of professionals working with and for children on children’s rights and, in particular, on article 12 of the CRC and on the Council of Europe Guidelines on Child-Friendly Justice;
• To enhance professionals’ knowledge, attitude and role on how to respect children’s rights in the context of prevention and early intervention programmes;
• To integrate the training modules and/or content into regular training programmes of the national partners or other entities otherwise responsible for the development of national curricula and training of professionals working for and with children.

By the end of the Action, it is expected that professionals working with and for children:

• Gain knowledge on children’s rights;
• Understand the relevance of children’s rights and the Council of Europe (CoE) Guidelines on Child-Friendly Justice, in the context of their work;
• Are able to apply the principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the CoE Guidelines on Child-Friendly Justice, in the context of their work;
• Acquire skills on how to inform and engage with children of different ages and vulnerabilities;
• Acquire skills to raise awareness of other professionals on the importance of children’s rights and how to inform and engage with children.

European Commission’s support for the production of this content does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Project Partners