Looked-after children's charity Voice asked young people on its Xpress group what should come out of the paper before it submitted its response in time for the extended deadline of last Wednesday (31 January).

As well as more participation, the young people wanted it to be easier for looked-after children to stay in touch with siblings and that more children should have advocates. They thought social workers should be more aware of how their actions can affect them, they should have a more positive opinion of young people and they should have less paperwork and more time to respond to the needs of young people and get to know them.

In its response Voice called for a better use of advocates for looked-after children to help them have their voices heard.

Its response also says there needs to be "a commitment to the empowerment of children and young people, recognising them as competent to work in partnership with adults both on an individual and collective level so that they can participate effectively in decisions about the services that crucially affect their lives".

But Voice raised concern over a gap in the green paper on relationships in a family once a child is in care, and called for the relationship between siblings to be maintained with the help of social workers and carers.

In addition, the charity suggested children in custody should have looked-after status in the same way as is suggested for disabled children in residential schools. And it called for the responsibility for young offenders to be transferred to the children's minister and that only child care-trained staff should look after these children.

John Kemmis, chief executive of Voice, expressed concern that a principle allowing more children to have a say on their care, which was included in the first drafts of the green paper, was taken out of the final document.

"My understanding in the run up to the publication of Care Matters was that this would be a central principle at the beginning of the paper.

I was very disappointed that it didn't appear and we feel that it does need to be there as a principle," he said. "A lot of our response is thinking about how to empower children and young people about the decisions in their lives and choices that are made."

London Councils, which also submitted its response last week, said it believed more money was needed to help improve the lives of young people in care.