Operationalising children's participation: Competing understandings of the policy to practice ‘gap’

Abstract

There is widespread discourse and policy on children's participation in decision‐making. This is not matched with an equal level of implementation in practice. This qualitative research explores the policy to practice gap with senior decision makers in the child protection system in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Their reflections on the challenges associated with translating the participation principles into practice are deconstructed to understand the complex and overlapping ways in which participation is perceived. The research data indicate there are competing understandings of participation at play, depending on the actor, their role and organisation. This paper suggests that genuine participation in practice relies on bridging the epistemic differences and interests of different stakeholder groups who are all critical to achieving children's participation in service decision‐making.

Cultivating child and youth decision‐making: The principles and practices of the ReSPECT approach to professional development

“…Children participate in an ecosystem of 'contextual complexities and connections between subjects and social structures' (Hartung, 2017, p. 54). The implementation of participation is, therefore, multidimensional and multimodal, relying on both the personal and public, confidence, skill, knowledge, responsibility, resources and the individual and collective positioning of children (Michail et al, 2023;Woodman et al, 2023). Therefore, participation hinges on the diverse structures and contexts of daily individual practices (Michail et al, 2023;Woodman et al, 2023).…”

“…The implementation of participation is, therefore, multidimensional and multimodal, relying on both the personal and public, confidence, skill, knowledge, responsibility, resources and the individual and collective positioning of children (Michail et al, 2023;Woodman et al, 2023). Therefore, participation hinges on the diverse structures and contexts of daily individual practices (Michail et al, 2023;Woodman et al, 2023). Furthermore, the participation strategies designed or taken up by organisations are often based on how they fit into established organisational ways of working, such as teams, programs and available resources, and not centred on the needs of children.…”