What does research tell us about young people’s participation in decision making in residential care? A systematic scoping review

Young Teenagers’ Views Regarding Residential Care in Portugal and Spain: A Qualitative Study

“…The ideal action would be the one in which the just balance between guidance and freedom of action combines the presence and absence of adults, who should always maintain a role of encouragement, support, listening, and review. On the other hand, young people should participate in decisions that impact on their lives, especially in major life decisions, and have the opportunity to express their views that adults must take seriously (McPherson et al 2021;Moore et al 2018;Rodrigues et al 2019;Schofield et al 2016). This meaningful participation constitutes a challenge for the organizational culture of residential centres as it cannot be limited to formal compliance, a one-off event, but must ensure that young people are listened and taken seriously, beforehand, during decision discussion and also and specially during monitoring and evaluation of the intervention (Bouma et al 2018).…”

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“…9-ojo dešimtmečio skiriama vaiko teisei dalyvauti priimant sprendimus (Hultman et al, 2019). Užsienio šalių mokslininkai daug dėmesio skyrė įvairiai vaikų dalyvavimo teisės realizavimo aplinkai, sistemoms: šeimai (Cashmore & Parkinson, 2008;Heimer et al, 2018), sveikatos priežiūrai (Runeson et al, 2001;Coyne, 2008;Barry, 2014;Coyne, 2014;Grootens-Wiegers et al, 2017;Grootens-Wiegers et al, 2018;Olszewski & Goldkind, 2018;Yamaji et al, 2020;McPherson et al, 2021), institucinei globai (Bessell, 2011;Brummelaar et al, 2018;Vosz et al, 2020), švietimui (Laevers & Declercq, 2018), vaikų teisių apsaugai (Odinokova & Rusakova), miesto erdvių planavimui (Manouchehri & Burns, 2021). Šeimos aplinkoje nagrinėti vaikų dalyvavimo sprendimų klausimai tėvų skyrybų atveju (Cashmore & Parkinson, 2008).…”

Experiences of Adolescent Participation in Educational Institutions in Croatia

“…Their vulnerability and risks of social exclusion are deepened by entering the social welfare system, as well as by the deprivations experienced while in care, such as restrictions on freedom, a lack of privacy, and a lack of choice [12,13]. At the same time, the children in care are faced with several important decisions regarding changing their behaviour, choice of education, and future plans after leaving the social welfare system [14]. The interaction between the many risks they are faced with indirectly affects whether the right to participate is exercised or not, whereby positive treatment outcomes are also linked to the creation of a supportive and structured environment that provides young people with a sense of autonomy and the ability to make decisions that concern them [15].…”

“…This significantly reduces children's responsibilities and autonomy, which negatively affects the opportunities regarding participation and reduces their motivation to participate [17]. This group of children has also had numerous traumatic experiences, i.e., they have experienced neglect by adults they trusted, making it difficult for them to establish a trusting relationship with the adults in the social welfare system who play a key role in encouraging participation [14]. It is also evident that professionals declaratively recognise the right of children to participate, but in fact support the paternalist ideology of the social welfare system based primarily on protection [16].…”

“…It is also evident that professionals declaratively recognise the right of children to participate, but in fact support the paternalist ideology of the social welfare system based primarily on protection [16]. Professionals also need specific competences in order to develop the participation skills of young people in the social welfare system [14,18,19], first and foremost being relational competences [20], i.e., developing a respectful and cooperative relationship with children. Opportunities for participation are also limited at the systemic level, as the social welfare system is predominantly based on adultism in assessing the child's needs and making decisions about their future life and care [16,21].…”