Participation of children and young people in decisions – literature review

6 November, 2008

For most children and young people, decisions about where to go to school, where to live and who they spend time with are made by their parents.  Children and young people in care have these decisions made in formal processes such as case conferences by a number of adults, some of whom a child or young person might not know (Thomas & O’Kane 1998, 1999).  Participation is important for all children and young people, but even more so for children and young people in state care.

This literature review examines the participation of children and young people who are in state care in decisions about their lives.  It focuses on individual case planning and review meetings as a venue in which participation can be exercised. Participation, of course, is also an ongoing process and participation can occur in other settings such as family group conferences.

You can download a PDF file of Participation of children and young people in decisions – literature review and a PDF file of  Summary of Participation of children and young people in decisions – literature review from our website.

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