Formal and everyday participation in foster families: A challenge?

Abstract

This chapter focuses on CRC Article 12, as this pertains to foster children. In addition to participation rights all children share, foster children have a set of administrative participation rights related to their case. On their part, foster parents have to share their parental authority with persons of authority outside of the family who are obliged to follow up on foster children’s formal participation rights. On the other hand, children’s participation in everyday decision-making is an integral part of family life. The question is what challenges may occur when these participatory rights have to interact. I argue that three points may prevent problems resulting from these issues: (1) children in the foster home must be involved by Child Protection Services; (2) foster parents must be allowed to exercise sufficient parental authority despite being a public family; (3) children’s participation must be understood as a relational phenomenon.