Participation and health - a research review of child participation in planning and decision-making

Abstract

Effective child participation in child protection proceedings has proved difficult to achieve in Norway. Although participation is in principle accepted as a human right and something of benefit to children, when children's health is at stake there is a tendency to view participation in decision‐making processes by children as potentially disruptive to their well‐being. The purpose of this study is to review the research evidence for effects, positive or negative, of participation on health outcomes for children in care. A scoping review of major health and social work research databases was undertaken. Searches in five databases yielded 1830 studies of which 21 were finally included in this review. Studies were included if a relationship between health and participation was evident from the data presented, even if this was not the main objective in the study at hand. We conclude that when participation is successful, it may have beneficial side effects. Chief among these are that participation may improve children's safety, increase the success of care arrangements and increase feelings of well‐being for children involved. Evidence for long‐term effects of successful or failed participation attempts on subsequent health outcomes is however largely absent.

«Ser ou Não Ouvida»: Perceções de Crianças Expostas à Violência Doméstica

“…Os resultados reúnem os pontos de vistas dos diferentes intervenientes no processo (crianças, pais e juízes), os quais salientam que ouvir primeiro a opinião da criança, por vezes, é útil para as próprias crianças e suas famílias. De facto, os estudos com magistrados (e.g., Melo & Sani, 2015; têm revelado que em processos judiciais, a audição da criança é uma forma destes compreenderem os pontos de vista e encontrarem soluções que vão ao encontro dos desejos e necessidades da criança, apoiando a sua tomada de decisão e, quem sabe, encontrar outras soluções que não estão a ser pensadas pelos adultos (Vis, Strandbu, Holtan, & Thomas, 2011). De acordo com Pichal (2008), se as crianças tiverem oportunidade de serem ouvidas pelos magistrados, seja fora da audiência ou para efeito de recolha do seu depoimento, estes terão mais informações e serão capazes de tomar melhores decisões, com consequentes vantagens para as crianças e suas famílias.…”

Perceived Living Conditions of Young People in Secure Residential Care: Psychometric Properties of the Best Interest of the Child − Self-Report Questionnaire (BIC-S)

“…By doing so, we will enlarge our insight into whether, and to what extent, the BIC-S is suitable as an instrument for young people to express their views freely about their current living environment (cf. Vis et al 2011), and what implications this might have for research and practice.…”

“…Central to this is the question whether, and how, young people can be involved in these decisions. Co-responsibility in such decisions is regarded to increase chances of success (Vis et al 2011).…”

“…Listening to young people in care and giving due weight to their views may also be related to better decisions and more tailored services thereby supporting their psychosocial development (Vis et al 2011).…”

Children’s Homes and Working With Families

“…Research into the Family Decision Making approach (Morris, 2007(Morris, , 2012 shows that when the family is able to participate in the planning of child protection they respond positively, more effective interventions are implemented, collaboration with social workers increases, and negative situations for the children are reduced. Other significant research shows that when children and their families have a real opportunity to participate in child protection planning at the outset, they feel better and the processes are more effective (Moyers, Farmer, & Lipscombe, 2006;Dalrymple, 2011;Vis, Strandbu, Holtan & Thomas, 2011).…”