Table Of ContentChildren in Charge 14
Promoting Children’s
rights in Social Work
and Social Care
a guide to Participatory Practice
Margaret Bell
F oreword by Mary John
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and Philadelphia
First published in 2011
by Jessica Kingsley Publishers
116 Pentonville Road
London N1 9JB, UK
and
400 Market Street, Suite 400
Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
www.jkp.com
Copyright © Margaret Bell 2011
Foreword copyright © Mary John 2011
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Bell, Margaret, 1945-
Promoting children’s rights in social work and social care : a guide to
participatory practice / Margaret Bell ; foreword by Mary John.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-84310-607-4 (alk. paper)
1. Children’s rights--Great Britain. 2. Social work with children--Great
Britain. 3. Child welfare--Government policy--Great Britain. I. Title.
HQ789.B45 2011
362.7--dc22
2011004523
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 84310 607 4
ISBN pdf eBook 978 0 857004 864
Contents
Series Editor’s Foreword 5
Acknowledgements 7
Introduction 9
Part I The Principles, Policy and
Theory Underpinning Practice
1 What is Participation? Definitions, Arenas and
Outcomes 16
2 What is Participation? Different Methods 38
3 The Policy and Background to Children’s
Participation 54
4 The Theoretical Principles that Underpin
Participatory Practice 68
5 What Gets in the Way? Adult Attitudes, the World
in which Children Live and Organisational Culture
and Values 84
Part II Research Studies on Children’s
Experiences of Participation
Introduction 104
6 The Involvement of Children in Family Group
Conferences 109
7 The Participation of Children in Initial Child
Protection Investigations 127
8 The Participation of Children in Social Work
Electronic Records 149
9 Children’s Views on their Involvement in
Service Evaluation and Design 168
10 Implications for Practice 188
11 Conclusion 197
Bibliography 204
Subject Index 219
Author Index 223
Series editor’s
Foreword
As someone who has been involved in advocating children’s rights
for many years now, I am conscious of the long hard journey that it
has been for children and those supporting them since I and fellow
advocates all gathered together at the World Conference on Research
and Practice in Children’s Rights held at the University of Exeter from
8–11 September, 1992.
At that event, we started to take stock of the responses there had
been to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and whether
the activities that had followed had facilitated the involvement of
children, and, if so, the ways in which they had been empowering. At
that point in time, we realised that we had a long way to go.
The ‘Children in Charge’ book series was originally conceived to
help promote research, good policy and best practice in promoting
children’s rights as outlined in the UN Convention, and its titles have
reflected a shift over time – starting optimistically with Children in
Charge: The Child’s Right to a Fair Hearing (John 1996a) and Children
in Our Charge: The Child’s Right to Resources (John 1996b), then the
combatively titled A Charge Against Society: Children’s Right to Protection
(John 1997).
We have subsequently featured books dedicated to exploring the
implications of the UN Convention for different areas of practice –
working with traveller children (Kiddle 1999), children’s rights
in education (Hart et al. 2001), and children’s rights in early years
(Alderson 2008). It has been heartening to see many of the ideas which
originated within the movement being integrated within society –
within politics, our shared communal values and professional practice.
Commonly expressed concerns about importance of wellbeing
and happiness among children and the population at large also echo
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6 Promoting Children’S rightS in SoCial Work and SoCial Care
concerns that have been raised by the children’s rights movement for
many years.
I’m very pleased that the important subject of children’s rights in
social work and social care is now being addressed by the series in this
new book by Margaret Bell.
It comes at a timely moment, as children’s voices have been heard
in street demonstrations making clear their views and their right to
resources, and indeed in a special session in the House of Commons
(House of Commons 2010). At the same time, social workers are
required to recognise the rights of children but also face challenges in
their own work and resources.
What Margaret Bell describes here is the theory and practice of
truly vanguard work on how to keep children informed and important
in matters which concern them and ultimately our whole society.
Mary John
Professor Emeritus, Exeter University
acknowledgements
My desire to write a book about children’s participation in social work
is rooted in my own practice and teaching on social work with children
and families, and the research I have done with children and families
on their experiences of involvement in their social work.
I am indebted to my colleagues at the University of York for the
work we have done together over the last decade on the research studies
presented in Part II of this book: Jon Somerton on child protection
investigations, Terry Fisher on parenting programmes, Kate Wilson on
family group conferences and the R U Being Heard project, and finally
Ian Shaw, Ian Sinclair, Paul Dyson, Tricia Sloper and Wendy Mitchell
on the Integrated Children’s System. Without funding none of these
studies would have been possible, for which thanks to the Joseph
Rowntree Foundation, the Department of Health and Department for
Children, Schools and Families and the Cities of York and Kingston
upon Hull.
Stephen Jones at Jessica Kingsley deserves thanks for his patience
and helpful suggestions on the writing of the book. And thanks, also,
to my family and friends for their love, support and encouragement.
Lastly, thanks go to all the children and young people who have
given of themselves and their time to talk about experiences which
have often been sad and difficult, but whose words and thoughts tell
us what social workers can do to help them to exert their right to be
involved in decisions about their lives.
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