Children and young people’s participation in child protection: outcomes of transformative participation in international contexts

Abstract

This article draws on case studies from Brazil, Denmark, Israel, Norway, and Nicaragua to analyse the outcomes of transformative participation in child welfare. Transformative participation occurs when children make meaningful choices, develop a sense of agency, possess the resources to exercise agency, and can make a real difference in their lives, their communities, and child welfare. Caring and inclusive attitudes, relationships, and practice approaches characterise transformative participatory professional practices. We demonstrate that transformative methods can create conditions so children feel recognised and empowered and empower themselves. They encourage children to collectively engage in actions to change cultural norms and develop new child welfare practice approaches and policies. We show how local-level practitioners in public and nongovernmental child welfare organisations can play a crucial role in fostering children’s transformative participation.