Child protection practitioners: Including children in decision making

Abstract

This article presents findings from a study with 467 child protection practitioners in Australia to determine their practice responses and views on children's participation. The practitioners, recruited from 5 state jurisdictions, completed an online survey responding to case studies designed to determine the extent to which they would seek and include children's perspectives in decision making, and their confidence in talking to children. We report on practitioners' responses to a case study of a 5‐year‐old girl with suspicious bruising where the mother reports domestic violence. Based on previous research, it was hypothesized that the child's young age would lead to low levels of confidence in consulting with the child and giving weight to her perspective. In contrast to the findings of other research, our results show that almost all workers report that they would speak with the child, would be confident doing so, and would give weight to the child's perspective. Our discussion explores the potential reasons for the difference in these findings compared with other research, including the experience of practitioners, increased child‐centred policy in Australia, multiple understandings of participation, and variation in children and practitioner views of participation.

Social workers' perceptions of children's right to participation

“…However, they are less inclined to employ high-level participation practices such as giving children the opportunity to take part, or taking their opinions into consideration, in decision-making processes. These results are consistent with previous studies, which found that even when children are involved in the child welfare context, this involvement is very limited, and most of the time, their participation does not reach the point of actually influencing the decision that is being made (Bessell, 2011;Vis & Thomas, 2009;Woodman et al, 2018).…”

“…Delgado et al () found that Portuguese child protection workers emphasized the importance of children's participation in decisions concerning their individual care plan. Woodman, Roche, McArthur, and Moore () reported that Australian child protection workers said they would speak with children and give weight to their perspective.…”

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

“…Woodman et al’s (2018) survey regarding a case vignette of a 5-year-old girl with suspicious bruising and reports by the mother of domestic violence found that almost all child protection practitioners (97%) would speak to the child, and they felt the ability to talk to and value children’s views was an essential part of child protection work. In practice, participants discussing possibilities for child participation in youth care procedures were uncertain as to whether the child was actually heard during a meeting.…”

Childhoods in Policy: A Critical Analysis of National Child Protection Policy in the Philippines

“…Child protection policy can have an important impact on individual child protection workers (Woodman and others, ). Policy that incorporates understandings that are responsive to the socio‐cultural and structural contexts of children's lives, and understands them as social actors with agency, can provide more beneficial responses to maltreatment, and focus more closely on their wellbeing and needs as children.…”