This resource book is intended to support practitioners to engage children and young people in their assessment and future interventions in a supportive and enabling way. The importance of the child’s voice in assessments cannot be underestimated. Not only do children and young people have a clear right to express their views and to be involved in decisions about them, their views and wishes can be a powerful focus for intervening in family life in ways which promote positive change and maximise potential for positive development.

The tools contained within this resource book are based on the content of the Core Skills training that has taken place all over Kent during 2019/20. The tools have been gathered from a variety of sources and they are underpinned by key concepts such as ‘re-framing’ and strengths based intervention.

The tools are designed to follow the child or young person’s journey through Integrated Children’s Services. However, we would encourage you to use them flexibly wherever you feel they will be useful. We would also encourage that you continue to develop your own tools and ideas for communicating with children and young people and to share those with your colleagues.