Promoting Childrens Rights in Social Work and Social Care
A Guide to Participatory Practice
Margaret Bell
Foreword by Mary John
Children in Charge 14
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and Philadelphia
First published in 2011
by Jessica Kingsley Publishers
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London N1 9JB, UK
and
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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 childrens 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. Childrens 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
eISBN 978 0 85700 486 4
Converted to eBook by EasyEPUB
Series Editors Foreword
As someone who has been involved in advocating childrens 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 Childrens Rights held at the University of Exeter from 811 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 childrens rights as outlined in the UN Convention, and its titles have reflected a shift over time starting optimistically with Children in Charge: The Childs Right to a Fair Hearing (John 1996a) and Children in Our Charge: The Childs Right to Resources (John 1996b), then the combatively titled A Charge Against Society: Childrens 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), childrens rights in education (Hart et al. 2001), and childrens 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 concerns that have been raised by the childrens rights movement for many years.
Im very pleased that the important subject of childrens 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 childrens 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 childrens 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 Childrens 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.
Introduction
This book attempts to do three things: to explain and explore the foundations of childrens participation in decisions that affect them, to describe some childrens experiences of involvement in individual and organisational arenas, and to identify the values, skills and knowledge which practitioners and their employers need to effect empowering practice.
Childrens rights to participate in the decision-making process are enshrined in Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) (United Nations 1989). Article 12 grants a child who is capable of forming a view the right to express that view freely in all matters affecting him, and these views should be given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.
So, for most practitioners and their agencies and the organisations involved the question now is not what to do or whether to do it, but how. This book, and the research studies presented, illustrate what works and what gets in the way. It should therefore be of use to practitioners working with children, their managers who set up the structures to enable childrens participation to happen and to students and academics who are interested in the policy and theories underpinning the thinking and recent developments in participatory practice.
