Supporting Children’s Participation in Decision Making: A Systematic Literature Review Exploring the Effectiveness of Participatory Processes

Kennan, Danielle; Brady, Bernadine; Forkan, Cormac

doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcx142

Cited by 87 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Thus, further studies need to be conducted to explore what prevents child welfare workers from using full participatory practices with children. As studies in the current article suggest that participation of the child in decision making is dependent on their age, Kennan et al’s (2018) recommendation to study what supports participation of young children in child welfare is very relevant in this context.…”

Section: Discussion and Concluding Thoughtsmentioning

confidence: 97%

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

Toros

2021

Research on Social Work Practice

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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.

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Section: Discussion and Concluding Thoughtsmentioning

confidence: 97%

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

Toros

2021

Research on Social Work Practice

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“…As articulated by Hunter and Price‐Robertson (2014, p. 19), ‘child‐inclusive’ approaches are used where adults are the focus of the service, but children have opportunities to directly participate to ‘keep issues of child safety and wellbeing at the centre of policy and practice’. Through a systematic literature review, Kennan, Brady, and Forkan (2018) identify that an organization may improve their effectiveness through providing advocates, having children attendance at meetings and family conferences and using various methods to directly record the child's views. Over recent years, gaining children's perspectives is increasingly being sought through government programme evaluations (such as Queensland's Family and Child Commissioner, 2018) and NGO studies and evaluations to improve practice (Anglicare Southern Queensland, 2017; Leach‐McGill, 2013).…”

Section: Literature Review: Children's Participation In Child and Fammentioning

confidence: 99%

Influences on children's voices in family support services: Practitioner perspectives

Harkin

Stafford

Leggatt‐Cook

2020

Child & Family Social Work

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Australia's 2017 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse recommended to organizations that children should participate in decisions affecting their lives as a safety standard. While a substantial body of research about children's voices in statutory or out-of-home care now exists, there remains a paucity of research into children's voices in family support services delivered by nongovernment organizations. This is despite the primary service purpose being to benefit children. This lack of focus in family support was identified as a research priority by a nongovernment organization in Queensland, Australia, which lead to a collaborative research programme. This article reports on initial research from a survey study to describe the current state of play from practitioners into their perceptions and practices of children's participation in family support contexts. A voluntary and anonymous online, qualitativepredominate survey was opened to 110 practitioners in family support services, of which 50% responded. The findings identified that children's voices were compromised by perceptions of children's capacity relating to age and vulnerability, the parental focus of the service coupled with perceptions of parent's needs and gatekeeping behaviours and service pressures that work against the conditions required for children's rights to voice.

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“…Furthermore, research has consistently found that good relationships between professionals and young service users are required to effectively support participation (Gallagher et al, 2012;Archard & Skiveness, 2009;Kennan et al, 2018), and that there is a need to build staff and organisational capacity to balance participative and protectionist practice (Vis et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The participation of children and young people in care: insights from an analysis of national inspection reports in the Republic of Ireland

Brady

Kennan

Forkan

et al. 2018

Child Care in Practice

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The term 'participation' is widely used to refer to the involvement of children and young people in decision-making on issues that affect their lives. The Health and Information Quality Authority (HIQA) is the national inspectorate for social care in Ireland. HIQA monitors Tusla, Ireland's child and family agency, for compliance with national children's standards, including standards on children and young people's participation rights. This paper outlines findings of a secondary analysis of data in relation to participation standards in HIQA foster care, residential care and special care inspection reports over a two-year period from 2013-2015 (n=40). The thematic analysis explores the degree to which the reports found that children in care are provided with the opportunity to influence decisions in relation to their everyday lives, to participate in child in care reviews, receive information, avail of advocacy services and have access to a complaints mechanism. While there is much evidence of good practice across all sectors, some notable differences between the realisation of participation standards in residential care and foster care were found. This baseline analysis was undertaken prior to the implementation of a comprehensive participation strategy by Tusla across the organisation and highlights areas in which practice can be improved or mainstreamed in this work programme.

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Supporting Children’s Participation in Decision Making: A Systematic Literature Review Exploring the Effectiveness of Participatory Processes

Cited by 87 publications

References 27 publications

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

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

Influences on children's voices in family support services: Practitioner perspectives

The participation of children and young people in care: insights from an analysis of national inspection reports in the Republic of Ireland

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