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Care Leavers’ Participation in Designing Child Welfare Services and Policy in Israel
Talia Meital Schwartz-Tayri, Hadas Lotan ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This book chapter looks at how young people who have left care in Israel took part in designing child welfare services and policy through a youth advisory board. It draws on interviews with 12 board members and four policymakers. The authors describe how membership built a sense of belonging and gave members political resources for advocacy. Policymakers saw changes in services for children in care and youth in transition as a result of the board's advocacy.
Key points
- Membership in the youth advisory board generated a strong sense of belonging among members.
- Care leavers' political socialization on the board and shared decision-making at several levels generated political resources for effective activism.
- Policy advocacy helped young people gain several critical resources for political engagement.
- Organizational and national policymakers considered changes in the design of services for children in care and youth in transition a result of the board's advocacy.
- The authors argue that engaging care leavers in service and policy design may increase service quality, social inclusion and children's active citizenship.
Limitations
The abstract describes a small interview-based study (12 board members and four policymakers) in one country, so it cannot show how widely the findings apply. Claims about service quality and policy impact rest on participants' and policymakers' perceptions rather than measured outcomes.
Abstract
Abstract This chapter discusses how the experiences of young people who aged out of care can make a fundamental contribution to the design of child welfare policies. The authors show that care leavers’ political socialization on the youth advisory board and empowering engagement in multilevel shared decision-making in Israel generated the political resources required for their effective activism. The chapter demonstrates how care leavers’ engagement in service and policy design may increase service quality, social inclusion, and children’s active citizenship. The chapter, which seeks to expand scholarly knowledge about the engagement of marginalized youth in policy design, analyzes board members’ political resources, self-efficacy, and opportunities to engage in policy advocacy. The chapter is based on interviews with 12 board members and four policymakers. The chapter shows that membership in the youth advisory board generated a strong sense of belonging among members. It demonstrates that young people’s policy advocacy efforts helped them gain several critical resources for political engagement. Organizational and national policymakers considered the changes in the design of services for children in care and youth in transition a result of the board’s advocacy efforts.