Space, Voice, Audience and Influence: The Lundy Model of Participation (2007) in Child Welfare Practice

This article examines how the Lundy model of child participation—which breaks down Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into four elements (space, voice, audience, and influence)—is applied in practice by child welfare professionals in Ireland. The article provides practical examples from practitioners and inspection reports showing how professionals create safe environments for children to express views, support them in doing so, and ensure those views are heard and acted upon. While the Lundy model has been widely accepted in research and policy, this work addresses a gap by demonstrating concrete approaches to implementing its concepts in child protection and welfare services.

Key points

• The Lundy model operationalizes Article 12 rights through four distinct but interrelated elements: space, voice, audience, and influence
• There has been limited documentation in the literature of how these four concepts can be put into practice
• Irish child protection and welfare practitioners implement Lundy's framework by creating safe and inclusive spaces for children to express views
• Practitioners use specific approaches to support children in expressing their views and ensuring those views are listened to and acted upon
• Examples are drawn from both practitioner testimonies and reports from Ireland's social care inspectorate

Limitations

This article is descriptive and does not evaluate whether the Lundy model implementation actually improves child welfare outcomes or whether participation practices genuinely influence decisions affecting children. It does not provide quantitative data on the scale or consistency of implementation across Ireland's child welfare system.