“Many are bad at involving children and young people” : A qualitative study of how social workers enable children and young people's participation

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine how social workers work in order to enable children and young people's participation during a child protection investigation and how they experience the Convention on the Rights of the Child have changed the conditions of their work. To address the aim of the study, we have interviewed five social workers who work with children and young people at the social services office in four different municipalities in Stockholm county. To analyze the empirical data, we have used two theoretical frameworks; Shier’s Pathways to Participation and New Institutional Theory of Organizations. The results of this study indicate that social workers find it hard to define children and young people's participation, which leads to different ways of working. There are obstacles such as a parental focus and organizational conditions, such as time constraints, workload and budget cuts, which complicate social workers' work with children and young people's participation. Furthermore, we find that the Convention on the Right of the Child as a law has not had a major impact on social workers' practical work with children and young people's participation in child protection investigations.