Children and young people often experience the impact of laws, policies, and public decisions without having much say in how they’re shaped. Yet across the UK and beyond, there is a growing movement to ensure that children’s voices are not only heard but genuinely influence the systems that affect their lives. In this episode of the Kids Law Podcast, Alma Constance and Lucinda explore the topic of youth advocacy with the help of Arthur Templeman-Lilley, a young children’s rights consultant who has spent years championing meaningful participation.
Arthur’s story highlights something crucial: when children understand their rights and are supported to use them, they become powerful agents for positive change. This episode explores that message, why children’s rights matter, and how young people can get involved.
What Is a Children’s Rights Consultant?
As a children’s rights consultant, Arthur works to embed the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in schools, charities, local authorities, and national organisations. His work includes:
- helping organisations create youth advisory boards
- supporting young people to share their views safely and effectively
- advising on policies and programmes that impact children
- and training adults on how to adopt a children’s rights-based approach
Arthur’s role developed after years of volunteering on youth councils and advisory groups. He saw how much young people had to offer, but also how often systems weren’t designed with their participation in mind. Becoming a consultant allowed him to help organisations bridge that gap and ensure that youth voices aren’t a token gesture but something with real impact.
Why Children’s Rights Advocacy Starts with Awareness
A powerful theme in this episode is the idea that young people cannot use their rights unless they know what those rights are. Article 42 of the UNCRC requires governments to actively make children aware of their rights; something many countries still struggle to achieve in practice.
Understanding rights helps children recognise:
- when they should be listened to
- when decisions are made in their best interests
- what support they are entitled to in school, health, or social situations
- and where they can speak up if something isn’t right
The Kids Law Podcast itself exists partly for this reason: helping young listeners understand how laws work, what they can expect from adults and institutions, and how to navigate the world safely and confidently.
Arthur demonstrates how transformative this knowledge can be. Getting involved at just 11 years old helped him see children’s rights everywhere: in school policies, playground design, youth services, and government decisions.
Building a Culture of Youth Participation in Wales
Wales is a strong example of what can happen when a country takes children’s rights seriously. Over the last decade, it has made several major advances:
- criminalising smacking
- adopting the Rights of Children and Young Persons Measure in 2011
- introducing the Welsh Youth Parliament
- incorporating political and rights-based education into the curriculum
- and lowering the voting age to 16 for Senedd and local elections
The Welsh government also has a legal duty to consider children’s rights when creating new policies, using children’s rights impact assessments. Although this system is still developing, it gives young people and advocates a powerful tool to hold decision-makers accountable.
Organisations like Children in Wales, UNICEF UK, and the National Youth Agency have brought together hundreds of groups under the shared goal of ensuring that children’s views influence the decisions that shape their lives.
This collective approach shows that change happens most effectively not through one person or one organisation, but through a network of aligned voices championing children’s rights from different angles.
Creative Advocacy: “Pause, Play, Fast Forward”
Arthur also wrote a bilingual book designed to help young people understand children’s rights in Wales. Written when he was still a teenager, the project was developed with the input of many volunteers and showcases:
- the history of children’s rights in Wales
- how rights work in everyday life
- and what young people hope to see change in the future
It combines education, storytelling, games, and illustrations to make rights engaging and accessible which is a key element in empowering young readers. The book also acts as a time capsule, capturing what young people wanted decision-makers to prioritise at that moment, so progress can be reviewed in the future.
This creative approach reflects a wider truth: children’s rights education doesn’t have to be complicated or technical. It can be lively, visual, playful, and relevant to daily life.
The Future of Youth Participation
Young people today are more informed, socially aware, and eager to take part in change than ever before, but barriers remain. Schools vary widely in how much they teach about rights, and some adults still underestimate young people’s ability to understand complex issues. Furthermore, important reforms, such as raising the age of criminal responsibility across the UK, still lag behind international standards.
However, youth advocacy continues to grow. Children now sit on advisory boards, contribute to national consultations, influence legislation, and help organisations become more rights-based. Projects like the Big Conversation in Wales are giving thousands of young people a chance to share how accessible their rights feel in real life.
The message is that children’s rights are strongest when young people themselves are part of shaping them.
Why Understanding Children’s Rights Matters
At Kids Law, our mission is to help young people understand how the law works and how it affects their lives. This episode shows how powerful that knowledge can be. When children understand their rights, and when adults work together to support youth participation, young people can influence schools, communities, and even national policy.
If you want to explore more about children’s rights, how laws are made, and how young people can get involved in shaping the world around them, visit kidslaw.info and explore more episodes of the podcast.
Want to find out more about how the legal system supports young people and their futures? Visit https://kidslaw.info and explore more episodes of the podcast.