Type: Academic Journal

Participation in Practice in Child Welfare: Processes, Benefits and Challenges

Internationally, there has been a significant focus in policy and practice on the participation of children and young people in decisions that affect them, underpinned by respect for their rights under Article 12 of the UNCRC. While children’s participation has become a core focus for practice improvement in child welfare services, there is a dearth of practical examples of how participation is implemented in organisations. In this paper, we provide a reflective case study of participation in practice in the Youth Advocate Programme (YAP) in Ireland, a large non-profit child welfare organisation. YAP Ireland works with young people who are considered ‘high risk’ using a strength-based approach in a wraparound service that is family-driven and youth-guided. Drawing on qualitative interviews and focus groups with young people, parents, advocates, and staff and management, we describe and critically analyse YAP’s approach to participation. Critical factors in practice include a commitment to participation in policy, practice and culture at all levels of the organisation and scaffolding of participation by staff. Challenges include ensuring that participation principles are upheld consistently across the organisation and resourcing participation.

Planning For Me? Planning With Me. Placing Lundy’s Model of Child Participation at the Heart of Individual Education Plans

The rights of children and young people have gained prominence over recent years, spanning a range of settings and domains. In particular, the importance of eliciting, listening to and acting on the voices and views of children and young people has featured strongly in a range of legislative and policy documents. Internationally, this rights-based focus is particularly informed by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Promoting Children’s Participation in a Participatory Design Process in a Rural School: A new role needed?

In Brazil, Education of Rural Areas is a model which started with social movements and became a public policy with the aim of improving participation of people of rural areas in making decisions about the model of their education. Schools in that context need to improve access to scientific and technological knowledge, but ensuring that previous values and knowledge of the students about agroecology and sustainability are considered.

Young and Hungry: School Meal Policies and Children’s Right to Food in the UK and Ireland

This article evaluates school meal policies in the UK and Ireland as a means to ensure the fulfilment of children’s right to food, as protected under international law. It adopts a comparative approach, assessing the varying strategies adopted across the two jurisdictions and their challenges. Whilst new developments, including the recent expansion of both hot meal provision in Ireland and universal free school meals in Wales and Scotland, are welcomed, the article argues that school meal policies across the UK and Ireland need to be radically rehauled if they are to make any headway in the realisation of children’s right to food.

Re-Thinking the “Invisible Child” Constitutions

Recent attempts to systematise the constitutional protection of children’s rights by creating constitutional typologies have been a useful first step in theorising this growing field. These efforts have focused on the wording of constitutions rather than their application, while forms of constitutional protection that are less textually explicit and more difficult to detect have received limited attention. By exploring the constitutional protection of children’s rights in France, this article demonstrates that some constitutions poor in explicit provisions on children’s rights can provide valuable protection through their general provisions. The article further argues that constitutional typologies of children’s rights protection should be expanded to encompass non-liberal constitutions.