The Nest and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

How does The Nest correspond to the UNCRC?

The Nest is a way of thinking about the wellbeing of children and young people. It is a conceptual framework that answers the question “what does it take for a child or young person to have a good life?” It looks at six broad domains that work together to create overall wellbeing. To thrive, a child must be doing well in all six domains.

The UNCRC also looks at children’s needs across a number of wellbeing areas. These correspond closely to the domains of The Nest. Because The Nest domains are connected and interdependent, the Articles of the UNCRC tend to cross over more than one Nest domain. For example, Article 6 states that all children have the right to live a full life. Wellbeing under The Nest would say that a “full life” requires a child to be doing well in all Nest domains; therefore, all domains are relevant to this Article.

As well as specifying what children need to thrive, the UNCRC also:

• assigns roles and responsibilities to governments, families, and “organisations concerned with children”
• covers the administrative requirements for signatories to the Convention, and
• espouses general human rights principles of inclusion.

These things are not explicitly contained in The Nest, as The Nest is a child-centred framework that focuses on what a child needs and not specifically who is responsible for providing that and how. This is a deliberate choice to reflect the primacy of the child or young person, and to recognise that a child’s needs can be filled in many ways depending on that individual child’s circumstances.