A Typology of Children’s Participation in Child Protection Interventions

2018 ◽  
pp. 71-118
Author(s):  
Mandy Duncan
Keyword(s):  
Child Protection ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Children's Participation

Children’s Participation in Decision Making From Child Welfare Workers’ Perspectives: A Systematic Review

2021 ◽  
pp. 104973152098484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karmen Toros
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Child Welfare Workers ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Participation In Decision Making ◽  
Children's Participation ◽  
Meta Analyses ◽  
Welfare Workers

This article explores child welfare workers’ experiences of children’s participation in decision making in the child protection system. The systematic review follows the principles of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement and includes 12 peer-reviewed articles published in academic journals from 2009 to 2019. Findings indicate that children’s participation in decision making is generally limited or nonexistent. The age of the child is an important determining factor concerning whether the child is given the opportunity to participate in decision making. Potential harm for children that may result from participation is considered when deciding on whether to include a child in the decision-making process.

scholarly journals FACILITATING CHILDREN’S PARTICIPATION WITHIN MULTIDISCIPLINARY MEETINGS: GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR CHILD AND YOUTH CARE CENTRES

2021 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Johannisen ◽  
Carlien Van Wyk ◽  
Hannelie Yates
Keyword(s):  
Child Protection ◽  
National Level ◽  
Youth Care ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
African Child ◽  
Child And Youth Care ◽  
Multidisciplinary Meetings ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Guiding Principles ◽  
Children's Participation

Legislation on both an international and national level advocates that all children have a right to participate in all matters affecting them. This article reflects an interest in children’s participation in the broad field of child protection, and specifically within the context of South African child and youth care centres. Against this contextual background, the article aims to introduce guiding principles that may stimulate ongoing conversation on the facilitation of children’s participation in a specific space of decision-making within child and youth care centres, namely multidisciplinary meetings. Guiding principles were derived from a comprehensive qualitative study in which individual semi-structured interviews and focus group groups were conducted to collect data from residential social workers, child and youth care workers, and children from child and youth care centres in the greater metropolitan area of Cape Town in South Africa

Participation as a methodological and ethical issue in child protection research

2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna Kiili ◽  
Johanna Moilanen
Keyword(s):  
Child Protection ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
Research Subjects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
International Child ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Children's Participation ◽  
The Right ◽  
Participation In Research

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how children have been involved in research activities in recent international child protection research and what kinds of ethical and methodological decisions are made by researchers regarding children’s participation. Design/methodology/approach In the paper, the complexity of children’s participation in research activities is analysed through an integrative literature review. Findings Children’s right to self-determination and the right to make informed decisions were the most challenging ethical principles to implement in practice. The study shows that researchers usually decide on the research design, and child welfare professionals and parents assess the eligibility of the children as research subjects. Originality/value More ethical reflection and critical discussion on the rights that adults, both parents and professionals, have in deciding the involvement of children in research activities is required.

Barriers to Children's Participation in Child Protection Practice: The Views and Experiences of Practitioners in Ghana

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 267-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alhassan Abdullah ◽  
Ebenezer Cudjoe ◽  
Margarita Frederico
Keyword(s):  
Child Protection ◽  
Parental Influence ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Constructivist Grounded Theory ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Service Training ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Analyse Data ◽  
Children's Participation

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) includes provisions to ensure that children and young people have a say in decisions affecting their lives. Although a signatory to the UNCRC, Ghana is a nation where little empirical evidence has been gathered regarding the barriers that prevent children from participating in child protection. Thus, in this article, we report on findings from a qualitative study into the barriers to children's participation in child protection practice in Ghana. The study was based on qualitative interviews with 15 child protection practitioners, and a constructivist grounded theory approach was used to analyse data from the interviews. Intimidation, parental influence, communication problems, and confidentiality were identified as barriers to promoting participatory practices for children in the child protection process. The study findings suggest that engaging with children in separate rooms or spaces, away from the presence of parents and other adults, could help practitioners promote children's participation. It is recommended that practitioners should upgrade their skills for working with children by taking part in in-service training, workshops, and seminars to help address issues with communication. Practical actions suggested in this study may also be useful for other practitioners addressing similar issues.

scholarly journals Participation of Children in Decision-making and their Psychosocial Wellbeing within the Child Protection System in St. Petersburg, Russia

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 643-656
Author(s):  
Вероника Александровна Одинокова ◽  
Майя Михайловна Русакова
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Limited Participation ◽  
Psychosocial Wellbeing ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Children’S Homes ◽  
Participation In Decision Making ◽  
Children's Participation

The child’s right to be heard is a cornerstone of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Children growing up outside of their natural families particularly often find themselves in situations where this right should be fulfilled. In Russia, the child’s participation in decision-making at the time of their separation from their parents, and during their stay in the children’s homes, is often overlooked by both static monitoring and academic studies. In our study we raise the following research questions: To what extent is the right of a child separated from his or her natural parents to participate in decision-making respected? How does involvement in decision-making impact their psychosocial wellbeing? The study covered 215 children aged between ten and seventeen (mean age fourteen years) living in children’s homes in St. Petersburg. Our findings show that 42 % of children believe that they were not heard when the decisions affecting their interests were made. Talking with a social counsellor and having a trusted adult in the children’s home add to children’s perceptions that they have been heard. Limited participation in decision-making increases the odds of psychosocial difficulties in the binary logistic regression. We conclude that limited participation in decision-making negatively impacts the effectiveness of work with children and their psychosocial well-being. Since the degree and effectiveness of children’s participation depends primarily on the attitudes of professionals and their ability to create trusting relationships with children, a further increase in children’s participation will require a change in the professional paradigm of specialists. Specific methods for increasing the participation of children should be introduced in the daily practice of child welfare workers.

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