Participation of Children Involved in the Child Protection System – Validation of the Meaningful Participation Assessment Tool (MPAT)

Abstract

Children have the right to participate in child protection investigations. Although research suggests that participation is related to positive outcomes of children in the child protection system, children’s participation is not always facilitated in practice. Therefore, it is important to validate tools that can be used to further investigate children’s participation. We examined the psychometric properties (i.e., reliability, internal validity, and external validity) of the Meaningful Participation Assessment Tool (MPAT), which measures the degree in which child protection professionals enable children’s participation in child protection investigations. The MPAT is based on the Model of Meaningful Participation (Bouma et al. 2018) and distinguishes three domains of children’s participation in child protection: 1) informing, 2) hearing, and 3) involving in decision-making. It consists of 13 items. We validated the MPAT based on data from 292 child protection cases. We concluded that the MPAT was reliable, internally valid and externally valid. The MPAT’s reliability was reflected by substantial Cohen’s Kappa coefficients ranging from .63 to .92. The Mokken scale analysis revealed a strong scale of 8 items (H = .70, Rho = .89). Items on seeing and hearing children about child protection topics seemed relatively more easy to achieve compared to items on providing children with information, which suggests that child protection workers may struggle most with informing children. Lastly, we concluded that the MPAT might be externally valid because we found higher MPAT scores for subgroups based on child protection institution, age, and gender, which was in line with our expectations.

Children's participation in child protection—How do practitioners understand children's participation in practice?

“…Legal responsibilities to report safety concerns can inadvertently position protection as the primary focus (Kosher & Ben-Arieh, 2020a;Middel et al, 2021). Child protective services often adopt a protectionist approach, which positions practitioners as experts and leads to decisions being made for rather than with children (Alfandari, 2017;Middel et al, 2021;Toros, 2021b;Vis et al, 2012). In Kosher and Ben-Arieh's (2020a) study with 151 Israeli social workers, practitioners favoured a protective position and only partly supported children's participation in their practice.…”

“…Enacting children's participation in child protection is complex (Toros, 2021a), with legislation and policy yet to translate into improved participatory practice (Diaz & Aylward, 2019; Kosher & Ben‐Arieh, 2020a; Middel et al, 2021; Wilson et al, 2020). There is tension between the self‐determination rights of children and the responsibilities of child protection practitioners to meet their best interests (Diaz et al, 2019; Heimer et al, 2018; Thomas, 2000; Vis et al, 2012).…”

“…Defining participation is also complicated (Tisdall, 2017). In this study, we understood elements of good participation to include children being provided with necessary information to participate in decisions and a safe space to voice their opinions, children's views being listened to and valued in the decision‐making process and, in ideal circumstances, influencing decisions (Middel et al, 2021; Toros, 2021b; UN Committee on the Rights of the Child [CRC], 2009). In addition, decisions should be communicated and explained to children, including how their views and adult views influenced the outcome (CRC, 2009; Toros, 2021b).…”

How Are Leadership Programs Empowering Our Vulnerable Children and Youth? A Scoping Review

“…A lack of participation by children and youth in the child protection system renders them "invisible" and increases the risk of further victimization (Greeson et al 2020;Nurcombe-Thorne et al 2018;Rudolph et al 2019;Sanders et al 2020;UNICEF 1989;United Nations General Assembly 1998;. Furthermore, a lack of participation in their own lives was identified as a contributing factor to negative outcomes, including developmental delays, mental health problems, and interpersonal violence, while the presence of participation was shown to result in improved developmental, social, educational, and employment outcomes (Clark et al 2020;Middel et al 2020;Patton et al 2016;Plagerson et al 2019;Rudolph et al 2019;Sanders et al 2020;Shaw 2017).…”

“…This is particularly the case for children and youth with disabilities (Cussen et al 2012;King et al 2000;McPherson et al 2016). Furthermore, patriarchal viewpoints which prioritize protection over participation (Middel et al 2020), dubious standards of care (Better Care Network 2017;, and a lack of resources and structures to support the contributions of the children and youths' voices, result in limited adherence to the right of participation for children and youth who are vulnerable (Gal 2017;Kay and Tisdall 2017;.…”