This article considers the possibility of rethinking citizenship so as to include children. Much current discussion of children and society is marked by a series of interlocking discourses which serve to problematize and marginalize children. This dominant `negative agenda' thrives untouched by recognition of the many complex and demanding responsibilities accepted by children or of the many degrading social forces that bear down equally on children and adults such as poverty and racism. To think anew about citizenship and children can prompt us to consider the similarity of concerns confronting child and adult, and to recognize the interdependence of our lives and how such interdependency is best fostered. What might such a rethinking of citizenship entail? The article argues that, in addition to reconsidering what we think it is to be a child (for instance ideas about incompetence and irrationality associated with childhood), we need to rethink the value of the language of rights and the social significance of this language. Rights are not just about state-citizen relations but about how civil society should imagine itself; in this context the imagery of social conversation and participation is central to the rethinking of citizenship. The language of citizenship, rights and participation is fragmentary and yet the contestation around these ideas is intensifying and opening up new possibilities of social organization and dialogue. By way of conclusion, the requirements of such a vision of citizenship are considered - what will be needed to make it a social possibility.

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This article considers particular provisions of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and the Children Act 2004 in order to advance the argument that despite having ratified the UNCRC, and thereby endorsing the idea of consulting with children and promoting their participation, current policy in England and Wales is still locked within a discourse which sees children either as victims or threats. These discourses of risk operate to undermine and deny children's citizenship claims and to justify an intensification of the policing of children's lives – and thus their families, friends and communities. The article provides a short history of children's rights to set the scene for a critical evaluation of this legislation and then considers key provisions of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and associated protocols on sexually active young people and how this links with the reconfiguration of child welfare practice heralded by the Children Act 2004. By way of conclusion it poses some critical questions with regard to these shifts in law and regulatory practice and highlights the increasing tension between professionals' commitment to children's rights, including the ‘right’ to confidentiality, and the trajectory of government policies impacting on children and families.

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The election of a 'New Labour' government in 1997 in the UK provided the impetus for political debate concerning the social exclusion 1 of young people. It was claimed that the experience of social exclusion could be directly connected to a number of interrelated social problems and issues ranging from 'vandalism, crime and neighbour nuisance', through to educational 439

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