3 | The Child Rights Impact Assessment tool Stage 1: Screening 1. Describe the issue being addressed and the overall aim of the policy/legislation. 2. Using the checklist, identify whether children’s rights are likely to be advanced or restricted by the policy/legislation. 3. Using the checklist, are there particular groups of children (including their families and carers) who are more likely to be impacted by the policy/legislation? 4. Based on the findings of the screening, is a full impact assessment required? If yes, continue to Stage 2. If no, end here. Conducting a full CRIA requires commitment, time and resources, and it is not practical to carry out a full CRIA for every piece of policy/ legislation. Screening acts as an initial check to determine whether children’s rights are impacted and a full CRIA is required. It may also be a record for decisions made. Some policies/legislation have more than one issue impacting on children’s rights. Where this occurs, it may be beneficial to screen each issue independently, rather than attempting to explore all issues together. Information at this stage is brief and informative. Questions prompt assessors to briefly describe the aims and goals of the policy/legislation and whether it impacts on children’s rights. • Additional children’s rights such as Article 19 (right to safety) or Article 28 (right to education) may be added into the table where they are impacted by the policy/legislation. A list of children’s rights can be found in Appendix 4 or the CRC. Assessors should consider whether the policy/ legislation directly or indirectly impacts on children’s rights. A direct impact on children’s rights refers to policy/legislation that explicitly impacts on a child’s life. For example: • If the policy/legislation changes how children and families access school and early childhood education (i.e. COVID-19 school closures), the right to education is impacted. • If the policy/legislation results in the redevelopment of community and recreational spaces (i.e. replacing parks with commercial office spaces), the right to rest and leisure is impacted. Question 2 includes the 4 guiding principles of the CRC: 20 | • Article 2 (right to non-discrimination) • Article 3 (right to best interests of the child) • Article 6 (right to life, survival and development) Article 12 (right to express own views freely and for those views to be given due weight and respect).