Development and testing of an assessment of youth/young adult voice in agency-level advising and decision making:
There is a range of stakeholder benefits when youth- and young adult-serving agencies include service recipient “voice” in advising and decision making regarding agency policies and programming.
Recorded on 3rd of October 2019

Contributors
Author: Walker, J.S., Masselli, B.M., Blakeslee, J., Baird, C. and Thorp, K.
Publisher: Children and Youth Services Review, 94, pp.598-605.
Date: 2018
Geographic Coverage: International
Type of Resource: Report
Sector/setting: Youth participation
Vulnerable groups: Children, Young People
Developed with children and young people? No
Type of participation: N/A
Availability: Open Access
Keywords: Youth Participation, Self-assessment, Youth Voice, Youth-serving Agencies
Introduction
Yet many agency stakeholders lack awareness of strategic best practices to ensure the consistent and meaningful participation of young people in decision-making processes, and few tools exist to evaluate agency efforts. This paper describes the development and validation of the Youth/Young Adult Voice at the Agency Level (Y-VAL), an assessment of the extent to which agencies have implemented best practices for supporting meaningful participation. The Y-VAL is intended for research purposes, as well as to provide agencies with direct guidance about strengths and challenges regarding their efforts to promote youth/young adult voice.