Treating Children as Children (P.14/2026) – Children’s Rights Impact Assessment
This content has been automatically generated from the original PDF and some formatting may have been lost, therefore it should not be relied upon to extract citations or propose amendments. Please see the PDF for the official version of the document.
STATES OF JERSEY
TREATING CHILDREN AS CHILDREN (P.14/2026) – CHILDREN'S RIGHTS IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Presented to the States on 27th January 2026 by Deputy Sir P.M. Bailhache of St. Clement
STATES GREFFE
2026 P.14 Add.
CHILDREN'S RIGHTS IMPACT ASSESSMENT (CRIA)
PART 1: SCREENING
Name and title of Duty Bearer: Deputy Sir Phillip Bailhache Type of Duty Bearer:
(Minister, Elected Member or States Elected Member
Assembly Body)
Assessment completed by (if not
Member's Resources completed by duty bearer):
Date:
1) Name and brief description of the proposed decision Decision' means: • an Assembly proposition • an amendment (or further amendment) to a proposition • for Ministerial duty-bearers, policy under development |
This proposition aims to replace the Trans Inclusion Guidance with guidance prepared by Transgender Trend entitled "Treating children as children: a safeguarding approach to trans-identifying children and adolescents in Jersey schools" |
2) Which groups of children and young people are likely to be affected? Groups of children could include early years, primary or secondary education; young adults; children with additional learning needs; disabled children; children living in poverty; children from particular ethnic backgrounds; migrants; refugees; care experienced children and LGBTQ+ children |
All school age children are likely to be affected by this change of guidance |
3) What is the likely impact of the proposed decision on children and on their rights? Impacts may be positive or negative, direct or indirect Include whether different groups of children will be affected differently by the decision |
School age children will be afforded less self-determination but safeguarding may be improved by adults making the decisions through a safeguarding lens. |
4) Is a full Children's Rights Impact Assessment required? If you have identified impacts on children and their rights, a full CRIA should be completed. If no impacts are identified then a Full CRIA is not required, but please explain your rationale and how you reached this conclusion |
Yes |
If screening determines that a full CRIA is needed, complete Part 2
Part 2: FULL CHILDREN'S RIGHTS IMPACT ASSESSMENT
5) What will be the impacts (positive or negative) of the proposed decision on children's rights?
For each of the UNCRC articles described below, click to identify any that may be relevant ☒
Category UNCRC Article Impact? YES NO
Non-discrimination (Art 2) ☐ ☐ Best interests of the Child (Art 3) to be a top priority x ☐
Guiding
Principles Right to Life survival and development (Art 6) ☐ ☐ Respect for the child's views (Art 12) ☐ ☐
Right to birth registration, name and nationality (Art 7) ☐ ☐ Right to an identity (Art 8) ☐ ☐ Freedom of expression (Art 13) ☐ ☐
Freedom of thought, conscience, and religion (Art 14)
Every child has the right to think and believe what they x ☐ Civil Rights choose
Freedom of association (Art 15)
& Freedoms Every child has the right to meet with other children and ☐ ☐ to join groups and organisations
Right to Privacy (Art 16) including family and home life ☐ ☐ Access to information from the media (Art 17)
Right to access reliable information from a variety of ☐ ☐ sources, in a format that children can understand
Protinhuemctaneion tagareatimnsentt to orrtur pe uniorshm otherentcr(uAelrt, d 37(egra)adi) ng or ☐ ☐ Respect for the responsibilities, rights and duties of
parents (or where applicable, extended family or x ☐ community) to guide their child as they grow up (Art 5)
Family
Environment Rdeveesponslopmibenilitt ofies tofhe boir chith pld ar(entArts 18in )t he upbringing and ☐ ☐ and
ACarlteer native Cagahiilndstren themiusr wt noill unt beles ses ipart iats ied n tfheromir btesheti irnparterentests s (Art ☐ ☐ 9)
Family reunification (Art 10) ☐ ☐
| Abduction and non-return of children abroad (Art 11) | ☐ | ☐ |
Right to a standard of living that is good enough to meet the child's physical and social needs and support their development (Art 27) | ☐ | ☐ | |
Special protection for children unable to live with their family (Art 20) | ☐ | ☐ | |
Best interests of the child in the context of Adoption (Art 21) | ☐ | ☐ | |
Review of treatment whilst in care (Art 25) If a child has been placed away from home for the purpose of care or protection (for example, with a foster family or in hospital), they have the right to a regular review of their treatment, the way they are cared for and their wider circumstances. | ☐ | ☐ | |
Protection from violence, abuse or neglect (Art 19) | x | ☐ | |
Recovery from trauma and reintegration (Art 39) Children who have experienced neglect, abuse, exploitation, torture or who are victims of war must receive special support to help them recover their health, dignity, self-respect and social life. | ☐ | ☐ | |
Basic Health and Welfare | Rights of disabled children (Art 23) | ☐ | ☐ |
Right to health and health services (Art 24) | ☐ | ☐ | |
Right to social security (Art 26) | ☐ | ☐ | |
Right to adequate standard of living (Art 27) | ☐ | ☐ | |
Education, Leisure and Cultural Activities | Right to education (Art 28) | ☐ | ☐ |
Goals of education (Art 29) Education must develop every child's personality, talents and abilities to the full | ☐ | ☐ | |
Leisure, play and culture (Art 31) Every child has the right to relax, play and take part in cultural and artistic activities | ☐ | ☐ | |
Special Protection Measures | Special protection for refugee children (Art 22) | ☐ | ☐ |
Children and armed conflict (Art 38 and Optional Protocol #1) Governments must do everything they can to protect and care for children affected by war and armed conflict. | ☐ | ☐ | |
Children and juvenile justice (Art 40) Right to be treated with dignity and respect, right to legal assistance and a fair trial that takes account of age. | ☐ | ☐ |
| Inhumane treatment and detention (Art 37 (b)-(d)) Children should be arrested, detained or imprisoned only as a last resort and for the shortest time possible. | ☐ | ☐ |
Recovery from trauma and reintegration (Art 39) Children who have experienced neglect, abuse, exploitation, torture or who are victims of war must receive special support to help them recover their health, dignity, self-respect and social life | ☐ | ☐ | |
Child labour and right to be protected from economic exploitation (Art 32) | ☐ | ☐ | |
Drug abuse (Art 33) | ☐ | ☐ | |
Sexual exploitation (Art 34) | ☐ | ☐ | |
Abduction, sale and trafficking of children (Art 35) | ☐ | ☐ | |
Protection from other forms of exploitation including for political activities, by the media or for medical research (Art 36) | x | ☐ | |
Children belonging to a minority or an indigenous group (Art 30) | ☐ | ☐ | |
Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography | ☐ | ☐ | |
Optional protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict | ☐ | ☐ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
6) Information and research What evidence has been used to inform your assessment? | ||
Evidence collected (include links to relevant publications) | What did the evidence tell you? | What are the data gaps, if any? |
Guidance emphasises the critical role of parents in safeguarding gender- questioning children, requiring schools to involve parents when addressing gender distress unless there is a clear risk to the child, ensuring parents are central to decision-making |
| |
| ||
The Review recommended a more |
| |
| ||
| cautious approach to childhood transition.' |
|
Article 10 |
| |
7) Engagement with children What groups of children and young people (or those who speak on their behalf, such as social workers, teachers or youth workers) have been directly or indirectly involved in developing the decision? | ||
Groups consulted | How they were involved | What were the findings? |
N/A |
|
|
8) Assessing Impact on children's rights Based on the information collected and analysed above, what likely impact will the proposed decision have on the specific children's rights identified in question 5)? | ||
Relevant UNCRC Articles (rights) identified in Q5 | Describe the positive or negative impacts on these rights | Which group(s) of children are likely to be affected? |
Article 3 | Allowing adults to make decisions in the "best interests of the child" this proposed guidance means schools can approach children through a safeguarding lens |
|
Article 5 | Entrusting parents with right and duty to guide children will ensure age- appropriate protections are put in place |
|
Article 14 | The proposed guidance protects children from being pressured or coerced into believing that a classmate has changed |
|
| from a boy to a girl (or vice versa) which may cause confusion, distress or anxiety |
|
Article 19 | This new proposed guidance provides measures that could potentially mitigate emotional harm to children by protecting them from treatments and expectations that could be developmentally inappropriate, and provides other necessary safeguarding measures to protect all children from harm |
|
Article 36 | A safeguarding approach will also work towards protecting against ideological exploitation |
|
9) Weighing positive and negative impacts • If a negative impact is identified for any area of rights or any group of children and young people, what options are there to modify the proposed decision to mitigate the impact? • Could any positive impacts be enhanced? | ||
The proposed replacement guidance aims to approach children and teenagers suffering from gender dysphoria through an adult first safeguarding lens, which has the potential positive impact of reducing harm. In my opinion, there would be no perceived negative impacts. | ||
10) Conclusions In summary, what are your key findings on the impact of the proposed decision on the rights of Jersey children? |
The proposed replacement guidance aims to approach children and teenagers suffering from gender dysphoria through an adult first safeguarding lens; this will impact children's rights in the ways detailed above by entrusting adults and parents to make informed decisions on their safeguarding. |