Tali Gal and Benedetta Duramy
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199366989
- eISBN:
- 9780190625238
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199366989.001.0001
- Subject:
- Social Work, Children and Families, Social Policy
The 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child has inspired advocates and policy makers across the globe, injecting children’s rights terminology into various public and private arenas. Children’s ...
More
The 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child has inspired advocates and policy makers across the globe, injecting children’s rights terminology into various public and private arenas. Children’s right to participate in decision-making processes affecting their lives is the acme of the Convention and its central contribution to the children’s rights discourse. At the same time the participation right presents enormous challenges in its implementation. Laws, regulations and mechanisms addressing children’s right to participate in decision-making processes affecting their lives have been established in many jurisdictions across the globe. Yet these worldwide developments have only rarely been accompanied with empirical investigations. The effectiveness of various policies in achieving meaningful participation for children of different ages, cultures and circumstances have remained largely unproven empirically. Therefore, with the growing awareness of the importance of evidence-based policies, it becomes clear that without empirical investigations on the implementation of children’s right to participation it is difficult to promote their effective inclusion in decision making. This book provides a much-needed, first broad portrayal of how child participation is implemented in practice today. Bringing together 19 chapters written by prominent authors from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia and Israel, the book includes descriptions of innovating programs that engage children and youth in decision-making processes, as well as insightful findings regarding what children, their families, and professionals think about these programs. Beyond their contribution to the empirical evidence on ways children engage in decision-making processes, the book’s chapters contribute to the theoretical development of the meaning of “participation”, “citizenship”, “inclusiveness”, and “relational rights” in regards to children and youth. There is no matching to the book’s scope both in terms of the diversity of jurisdictions that it covers as well as the breadth of subjects. The book’s chapters include experiences of child participation in special education, child protection, juvenile justice, restorative justice, family disputes, research, and policy making.Less
The 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child has inspired advocates and policy makers across the globe, injecting children’s rights terminology into various public and private arenas. Children’s right to participate in decision-making processes affecting their lives is the acme of the Convention and its central contribution to the children’s rights discourse. At the same time the participation right presents enormous challenges in its implementation. Laws, regulations and mechanisms addressing children’s right to participate in decision-making processes affecting their lives have been established in many jurisdictions across the globe. Yet these worldwide developments have only rarely been accompanied with empirical investigations. The effectiveness of various policies in achieving meaningful participation for children of different ages, cultures and circumstances have remained largely unproven empirically. Therefore, with the growing awareness of the importance of evidence-based policies, it becomes clear that without empirical investigations on the implementation of children’s right to participation it is difficult to promote their effective inclusion in decision making. This book provides a much-needed, first broad portrayal of how child participation is implemented in practice today. Bringing together 19 chapters written by prominent authors from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia and Israel, the book includes descriptions of innovating programs that engage children and youth in decision-making processes, as well as insightful findings regarding what children, their families, and professionals think about these programs. Beyond their contribution to the empirical evidence on ways children engage in decision-making processes, the book’s chapters contribute to the theoretical development of the meaning of “participation”, “citizenship”, “inclusiveness”, and “relational rights” in regards to children and youth. There is no matching to the book’s scope both in terms of the diversity of jurisdictions that it covers as well as the breadth of subjects. The book’s chapters include experiences of child participation in special education, child protection, juvenile justice, restorative justice, family disputes, research, and policy making.
Tali Gal
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199366989
- eISBN:
- 9780190625238
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199366989.003.0020
- Subject:
- Social Work, Children and Families, Social Policy
This concluding chapter integrates the findings of the book’s chapters in two ways. First, it outlines five general themes emerging from the chapters, namely, the need for legislation; the importance ...
More
This concluding chapter integrates the findings of the book’s chapters in two ways. First, it outlines five general themes emerging from the chapters, namely, the need for legislation; the importance of promoting participation among professionals; the challenge of shifting from token to inclusive participation, the need for managing expectations, and an understanding of participation as relational. Second, the chapter presents an ecological model that maps the multiple layers of elements affecting child participation. Beyond the specific circumstances of each case, child participation is affected by six tiers of ecological variables: the individual child’s characteristics, the family, professional considerations, state structures, cultural values and international norms. These influence child participation in three parameters: the level of participation, the temporal elements of participation, and the degree of systemic use of participation. These parameters, in turn, affect children’s sense of fairness, satisfaction, and wellbeing.Less
This concluding chapter integrates the findings of the book’s chapters in two ways. First, it outlines five general themes emerging from the chapters, namely, the need for legislation; the importance of promoting participation among professionals; the challenge of shifting from token to inclusive participation, the need for managing expectations, and an understanding of participation as relational. Second, the chapter presents an ecological model that maps the multiple layers of elements affecting child participation. Beyond the specific circumstances of each case, child participation is affected by six tiers of ecological variables: the individual child’s characteristics, the family, professional considerations, state structures, cultural values and international norms. These influence child participation in three parameters: the level of participation, the temporal elements of participation, and the degree of systemic use of participation. These parameters, in turn, affect children’s sense of fairness, satisfaction, and wellbeing.
Gale Burford and Sarah Gallagher
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199366989
- eISBN:
- 9780190625238
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199366989.003.0011
- Subject:
- Social Work, Children and Families, Social Policy
Efforts to help young people in child welfare and youth justice realize their participation rights are often caught in a crossfire of conflicting discourses and resulting policies. Adult judgments ...
More
Efforts to help young people in child welfare and youth justice realize their participation rights are often caught in a crossfire of conflicting discourses and resulting policies. Adult judgments about a young person’s ability to make decisions and understand their consequences interact with young people’s varying needs for structure and guidance and their desire for independence.
This chapter reports on the understandings of 32 Vermont teens interviewed about their experiences during a time when the state’s Family Services Division worked to implement a practice model that aims to ensure their participation as partners in child protection and youth justice work. In order to keep the young people’s voices in the forefront, this chapter includes passages from the interviews that exemplify the complexity involved in trying to understand these young people’s experiences and show what we have learned from them about participation.Less
Efforts to help young people in child welfare and youth justice realize their participation rights are often caught in a crossfire of conflicting discourses and resulting policies. Adult judgments about a young person’s ability to make decisions and understand their consequences interact with young people’s varying needs for structure and guidance and their desire for independence.
This chapter reports on the understandings of 32 Vermont teens interviewed about their experiences during a time when the state’s Family Services Division worked to implement a practice model that aims to ensure their participation as partners in child protection and youth justice work. In order to keep the young people’s voices in the forefront, this chapter includes passages from the interviews that exemplify the complexity involved in trying to understand these young people’s experiences and show what we have learned from them about participation.
Nigel Thomas
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199366989
- eISBN:
- 9780190625238
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199366989.003.0005
- Subject:
- Social Work, Children and Families, Social Policy
Children and young people’s participation in research can mean anything from taking part in adults’ research projects, to working in research partnerships with adults, to conducting their own ...
More
Children and young people’s participation in research can mean anything from taking part in adults’ research projects, to working in research partnerships with adults, to conducting their own research with adults’ support. This chapter focuses on the second and third of these. It presents two projects conducted by the author. The first was a university-based project to support children in local elementary schools to plan and carry out their own research projects. The second was initiated by young people in public care, who were supported by university researchers to conduct a research project together. Following the description of the projects, the chapter considers the factors contributing to their success and the shortfalls and disappointments in the two projects. It concludes with some thoughts about the centrality of the researcher as a gatekeeper for child participation, in particular in a wider context in which children’s participation rights are seen as problematic.Less
Children and young people’s participation in research can mean anything from taking part in adults’ research projects, to working in research partnerships with adults, to conducting their own research with adults’ support. This chapter focuses on the second and third of these. It presents two projects conducted by the author. The first was a university-based project to support children in local elementary schools to plan and carry out their own research projects. The second was initiated by young people in public care, who were supported by university researchers to conduct a research project together. Following the description of the projects, the chapter considers the factors contributing to their success and the shortfalls and disappointments in the two projects. It concludes with some thoughts about the centrality of the researcher as a gatekeeper for child participation, in particular in a wider context in which children’s participation rights are seen as problematic.
