An essential characteristic of democracies is that the people living in them are endowed with fundamental rights that allow them to lead a life they have reason to value irrespective of age, gender and cultural and social background. Questions of intergenerational justice and children’s rights are therefore on the agenda of current policies. In this context, participation rights have increasingly gained importance not only in international and national legal frameworks but also in the social work profession and are thus a core element of child and youth welfare services.
However, looking at different fields in child and youth welfare in Europe and further abroad, these possibilities are partly limited for children and young people as well as for practitioners and carers working with them. Empirical findings show that with terms such as participation and user involvement, catchwords are invoked that are regarded as quality criteria for children’s social services but which, on closer examination, are not always implemented in ways that lead to a better or even good life for those children and young people who are affected.
Increasingly children and young people’s participation in decisions about their lives and communities is viewed both intrinsic (dignity and self-worth in terms of expressing views to influence decisions about their lives) and instrumental (policy and better outcomes for children in terms of supportive relationships with their workers and positive experiences at school and care settings) value. Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) provides the foundation for children and young peoples’ participation; both the right to express their views on all matters concerning them and to have those views given due weight in accordance with their age and maturity. However, this highlights ambiguities in policy and practice as to whether children are active “beings” with the right to participation or vulnerable “becomings” in need of protection. Participation and user involvement can be catchwords, but different concepts and meanings of involvement do not necessarily lead to a redistribution of power between young service users and providers of care as a precondition for a democratisation of child and youth welfare services.
This special issue will cover a range of theoretical perspectives and empirical findings exploring different meanings of and conditions for the participation of children and young people involved with child and youth welfare services in practice, policy and research and the relationships between young service users, professionals as well as welfare organisations and institutions. We welcome articles on the perspectives of young people, professionals and carers working with young people as well, and on varied theoretical approaches such as the Capability Approach and participatory research methodologies.
