The SHANARRI Respected indicator focuses on ensuring that children and young people are listened to, involved in decisions and treated with dignity. It reflects a fundamental principle of Scotland’s approach to care and education: that every young person has the right to be heard.
For professionals, Respected is not just about consultation. It is about meaningful participation and ensuring that a young person’s views influence the decisions that affect their life.
What Respected Means in Practice
Within SHANARRI, Respected includes:
- Being listened to and taken seriously
- Having a say in decisions that affect their life
- Being treated with dignity and fairness
- Receiving support to express views where needed
This applies across all settings, including schools, residential care and social work services.
Children’s Rights and the UNCRC
The Respected indicator is closely linked to children’s rights, particularly those set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Scotland’s commitment to embedding these rights in law reinforces the importance of participation and voice.
Professionals have a responsibility to ensure that young people are not only heard, but that their views are considered and acted upon where appropriate.
Ensuring Meaningful Participation
In practice, ensuring that young people are respected requires more than asking for their opinion. It involves creating an environment where they feel safe and confident to express themselves.
This may include:
- Building trusting relationships with adults
- Providing clear and accessible ways to share views
- Supporting communication for those who need it
- Acting on feedback and explaining decisions
For looked-after children, this is particularly important, as they may have experienced situations where their voice was not heard.
Recording Voice and Experience
One of the challenges organisations face is capturing a young person’s voice consistently. When views and preferences are recorded in different ways or across multiple systems, they can become difficult to track and reference.
Geco Connect helps address this by allowing professionals to record a young person’s views and experiences within the SHANARRI framework. This ensures that voice is not lost and can be considered alongside other aspects of wellbeing.
It also supports organisations in evidencing how children and young people are being listened to and involved in decisions.
Supporting Respectful Outcomes
When young people feel respected, they are more likely to engage positively with the support around them. This contributes to better relationships, improved confidence and stronger long-term outcomes.
Supporting this requires:
- Consistent practice across teams
- Clear communication between professionals and young people
- A commitment to rights-based approaches
- Ongoing reflection on how decisions are made
By embedding these principles, organisations can ensure that respect is not just an indicator, but a lived experience.
See SHANARRI in Practice
If you would like to see how organisations are capturing and evidencing young people’s voice through the SHANARRI wellbeing indicators, Geco Connect can help.
Book a demo to see how it works in practice.