5. Child Focus Group Meeting Outcomes “Up until Grade Six I felt kinda [sic] sad and angry. But from Grade Seven to now I just don’t care and don’t listen myself.” - Child Focus Group Participant Fifteen children aged between ten and eighteen met on 1 November 2011 to discuss their right to participation in decisions that affect their lives. A programme for the day had been prepared in advance, based on an adaptation of the ‘Kaleidoscope of Experience’ method developed for use in a 2011 children’s participation study conducted in Finland by the Council of Europe (See Appendix I & II). Children were first given a brief introduction to the UNCRC with specific focus on Article 12 (for a snapshot of the presentation, see Appendix III). Asked about their knowledge of the Convention, and Article 12 in particular, children responded they were vaguely aware of the existence of the UNCRC but were not familiar with its various Articles and the specific rights they provided for. They were also informed of the purpose and objectives of the focus groups, invited to express their views freely, and were given assurances of confidentiality. The children were divided into three focus groups, each of which was assigned a facilitator from the Human Rights Commission. The group comprising children with special needs also included two carers/teachers who accompanied them to help them express their views. Several of the children communicated through sign language. Children in each group were asked to introduce themselves to each other, after which they carried out the tasks assigned under the ‘Kaleidoscope of Experience’. The first task was to list the activities they engaged in on a daily basis, followed by writing down a list of people involved in each of those activities. In compiling this list, participants were asked to underline the people whom they felt did not listen to them in making decisions that affected their lives. Their next task was to write down the reasons why they thought the said people did not listen to them, followed by a list of their suggestions as to how the situation might be remedied. They were then asked to write down how they felt when adults failed to listen to them and failed to take their views into consideration. Once the tasks were over, facilitators held discussions with children in each group, guided by predetermined set of questions centred on each of the focus areas highlighted earlier (See Appendix II for full list of questions). Although the questions were set prior to the focus group meetings, facilitators were flexible in asking them, allowing children the widest possible leeway for expressing their views within the scope of the study. On completion of the discussions, each group presented their views to all the children present, expressing their opinions on the extent to which 26