Power4Youth

“In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.”
(UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 3,1)

Founding Article
Vilnius, Lithuania October 4th-6th 2009

Power4Youth is one of the results of the European project Quality4Children in which between 2004 and 2007 European Quality Standards are developed. SOS Children’s Villages, IFCO (International Foster Care Organisation) and FICE (Féderation Internationale des Communautés Educatives) joined forces and developed a set of quality standards for out-of-home child and youth care in Europe in order to improve the care situation for hundreds of thousands of concerned young people. Quality4Children used youth participation in all levels of the project and this resulted in a core group of active young European people that developed Power4Youth.

The name Power4Youth was first used as the title of a youth workshop during the Quality4Children Conference which took place in Gmunden/Austria in June 2005. During this workshop young people from all over Europe worked together around the theme Youth Participation. During the closing ceremony of the Conference, the young people presented their voice and showed why it is important to listen to children and young people. After this workshop some of the young people were involved in the Quality4Children project. They helped collecting the stories, developing the standards and were members of the Steering Committee of Quality4Children. In June 2007 the Quality4Children Standards were launched at the European Parliament. The young people presented the standards and told their stories to the audience.

In October 2008 the first Power4Youth training was held in The Hague, The Netherlands. A group of 19 young people from 10 European countries met and worked together to learn to use their voice and life story as a message to the world. These 19 powerful young people decided to build a platform for youth involved with alternative care experience in Europe.

In October 2009 SOS Children’s Villages gave the opportunity to Power4Youth to meet and work together in Vilnius, Lithuania. This Power4Youth meeting and work, lead to the writing of a Vision, Mission, Values, Aims & Objectives and an organisational structure for Power4Youth. A board and taskforce were also established. The result has also been the production of these Founding Documents for the Power4Youth platform.

Vision Statement
“Youth with alternative care experience have equal opportunities to develop, to be a voice and to make changes through involvement, empowerment and support.”

Our Mission
Power4Youth is a platform for youth with (alternative) care experience. We believe in ensuring consultation, involvement, empowerment and support of youth, in order for young people with (alternative) care experience to reach their full potential.

We support and promote youth empowerment for young people to implement change in their own lives and the lives of others.

We promote quality care as best practice in all phases of (alternative) care of young people.

We advocate for meaningful youth participation by taking time to really listen to youth voices, consulting with them as valued stakeholders and involving them at all levels of decision making.

Power4Youth Core Values

• Diversity
  We respect diversity of opinions, backgrounds, persons; reflected in our actions, representation and involvement.
• Participation
  We stand for participation of youth in Power4Youth. We believe in stakeholder participation in all levels of alternative care.
• Commitment
  We commit to active co-operation with stakeholders in the field of alternative care. We recognise the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Quality4Children Standards for Out-of-Home Child Care in Europe.
• Inspiration
  We strive for inspiration of and by Power4Youth in pursuit of our Vision.
• Accountability
  We assure transparency and trustworthiness to all stakeholders in an effort to be sustainable as a youth platform.