Participation

Forces Children Scotland

Children and Young People’s Voices at the Heart of Change

Children have the right to have a say in the decisions that affect them, and for their views to be given due weight. For babies, children, and young people from armed forces families, so much of their lives is shaped by decisions made about their parent’s military career; yet too often their voices are unheard in those decisions.

Forces children and young people lead extraordinary lives, experiencing new places, meeting new people, and developing an amazing ability to adapt. But they can also feel invisible. Frequent moves to new schools, months of separation during deployments, or adjusting to the loss of the tight-knit community when their parent leaves the forces are not small matters. They shape childhoods, identities, and life chances.

Too many have told us that professionals, teachers, and even decision-makers fail to see the impact of these constant changes on their education, wellbeing, and identity. When children’s perspectives are overlooked, the risk is not only that their needs go unmet, but that they lose the sense of agency which is central to their wellbeing and development.

At Forces Children Scotland, our values are clear: babies, children and young people must be at the centre of everything we do. The best solutions are found with them, not for them. Their experiences, perspectives, and ideas guide our work, because we know that when they lead, the outcomes are stronger, more relevant, and genuinely transformative.

Listening to Hidden Experiences

One of the biggest changes experienced by forces children happens when their parent transitions out of the armed forces into civilian life. No two transitions are the same but in school-based participation sessions, children and young people shared what this shift meant for them.

Some described the deep loss of the armed forces community—where neighbours understood, youth clubs offered connection, and even small gestures, like a welcome with a cake, helped them feel at home. One young person recalled the shock of moving into a civilian street where no one knocked on their door; the silence spoke volumes.

Others talked about identity. “Being a forces child was all I ever knew,” one said. Transition brought uncertainty—overheard conversations about jobs, housing, and money—without anyone checking how those uncertainties affected them. While their serving parent felt supported, children told us their voices were invisible.

Even the positives, like finally having a parent home, came with challenges. Families had to renegotiate daily life, and some children admitted it was hard, while feeling guilty for saying so. Others missed the rhythm of moving, describing “itchy feet” when realising they would not move again.

Above all, young people valued being asked. Participation gave them space to share what no one else had asked about before.

From Listening to Action

Children were clear that it was not enough to be heard — they wanted things to change.

With funding secured, we partnered with the creative agency Effervescent to co-design a campaign with children and young people. In creative workshops, over a seven-day residential, they developed the Tornado of Change campaign.

The campaign raised awareness across Scotland, equipping professionals with practical tips and making children’s perspectives visible where they had long been overlooked. It also opened doors to new services, resources, and national policy change.

When Voices Lead, Services Follow

Throughout the residential, the children and young people kept coming back to their desire for a service to support the transition. They wanted a safe space to share experiences, combat isolation, and support one another through transition.

This highlighted one of the tensions that comes from good co-production — how do you balance delivering the project you are funded for with responding to the evolving ideas from children generated during co-creation. It felt uncomfortable to keep saying “we hear you, but we need to do a campaign”!

So, after we delivered Tornado of Change, we successfully sought funding to co-produce the service they kept asking for.  From here grew Ruby Boots, a peer-support service designed and named by children and young people.

Ruby Boots pairs children with trained “buddies”, slightly older peers with lived experience, building confidence, problem-solving skills, and resilience for everyone involved. Sessions are flexible, creative, and shaped by each group to ensure they meet their unique needs.

Complementing the Ruby Boots sessions will be Max’s Big Move, a picture book co-produced with the Ruby Boots young people. This book will help children in nursery and early primary school with their own transition experience and provide the necessary learning resources for the teachers and other adults in their lives to support them. From start to finish, children shaped the words, pictures, and messages.

Influencing Change Nationally

Tornado of Change helped children’s voices reach and influence national policy. Following its release, the young people involved met with the Scottish Veterans Commissioner, influencing the landmark Community and Relationships: Anything But Uniform report, which called for more support for the ‘invisible’ members of the veteran community and highlighted children’s experiences of transition.

There is now recognition in the sector that the impact of children’s experience of the transition is not understood, and this has shaped new research commissioned by the Forces in Mind Trust. As part of a consortium led by the Department of Education at Brunel University and including Portsmouth University and Academic Consulting and Education Services (ACCESS), Forces Children Scotland will support a Youth Advisory Board who will co-design recruitment materials, shape interview questions, analyse data, and help report findings. This is not research about them; it is research with them.

Why Participation Matters

From Tornado of Change to Ruby Boots, and influencing national research, one truth has been clear: when children and young people are not just consulted but empowered, real change happens. Their voices transform services, shift policy, and ensure resources reflect lived reality.

Children from armed forces families have told us they want to be heard. More importantly, they want their words to matter. At Forces Children Scotland, we remain committed to ensuring their voices shape every step of the journey, because no forces child should be disadvantaged, and no forces child should be invisible.

Ends

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