Child & Family Social Work · 2001 · 145 citations · 5 references
Social SciencesSocial PolicySocial WorkChild WelfareChildren's RightsSocial RightsChild AdvocacyChild ProtectionChild RightsChild Welfare PolicyChildren's Rights PolicyChildren's Social RightsChild Participation In Decision-makingChild Participation RightsChild Rights PolicyChild Welfare AccountabilityChild Welfare RightsChildren's Right To ParticipationChildren’s Participation RightsChildren’s Rights Advocacy
Children’s rights include participation in decisions about them, a principle enshrined in England & Wales’ Children Act 1989. The study investigates looked‑after children’s perceptions of their experience and their perceived power to influence decision making. The authors surveyed looked‑after children to assess their views on participation and decision‑making power. Children criticized frequent social‑worker changes, ineffective voice at reviews, lack of confidentiality, and absence of a confidante, and the authors argue that recent policy changes, such as the Looked‑After Children documentation and the Quality Protects initiative, restrict local authority and social‑worker flexibility to accommodate individual preferences.
Children’s rights include the right to participation in decisions made about them. For looked‐after children, this right is enshrined in the Children Act (England & Wales) 1989. This article reports the results of a study of children’s views about their experience of being looked after and the degree of power that they felt they had to influence decision making. Their main areas of criticism were frequent changes of social worker, lack of an effective voice at reviews, lack of confidentiality and, linked to this, lack of a confidante. The findings are discussed in relation to recent policy changes. Specifically, the Looked After Children documentation and the Quality Protects initiative, by setting out uniform objectives and performance criteria, seem to restrict the freedom of local authority management and of social workers to respond to individual children’s preferences, or to give weight to what the children themselves consider to be in their best interest.
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