Peer-reviewed article
A collaborative process: child participation in interventions provided by Swedish child and family welfare services
A. Markström, Catrine Andersson, Annelie Björkhagen Turesson, Lars O. Plantin ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This Swedish study examined how child participation happens in family welfare services, interviewing 14 social workers and 11 children aged 7–16. The research found that child participation works as a collaborative process between the child and social worker through everyday interactions. Social workers enable greater child participation by asking questions and giving children practice in influencing decisions. The study highlights that child participation leads to services better matched to what children actually need.
Key points
- Child participation is constructed as a collaborative process with active roles for both child and family social worker
- Participation develops through everyday actions and small interactions in meetings between children and social workers
- Family social workers can increase child participation by actively asking questions and allowing children to practice influence
- Current Swedish child and family welfare services are typically planned based on parents' perspectives rather than children's views
- Research shows child participation results in welfare service provision better matched to children's needs
Limitations
The study is qualitative with a small sample (14 social workers, 11 children) and focuses only on Swedish services, so findings may not generalise to other countries or welfare systems. The study describes how participation is constructed but does not measure outcomes or compare effectiveness between different levels of child participation.
Abstract
The right of children to express their views on matters concerning them is a core principle of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as defined in Article 12. However, research shows that interventions provided by Swedish child and family welfare services are planned and based on parents’ perspectives even though research suggests that child participation results in welfare service provision that is better matched to the children’s needs. The aim of this study is to explore how child participation is constructed in interventions provided by Swedish child and family welfare services and to study which elements are of importance to this process. The article is based on a qualitative interview study with 14 family social workers and 11 children aged 7–16 with experience of family interventions provided by the child and family welfare services. The results suggest that child participation is a collaborative process in which both the child and the FSW have an active role to play. Participation is constructed through a series of seemingly small, everyday actions in the meeting between the child and the FSW. By actively asking questions and allowing the child to practice participation and influence the process, the FSW can, together with the child, work towards increased child participation in interventions.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Social workers engage in collaborative processes with children through everyday actions, actively asking questions and allowing children to practice participation and influence
- Population
- Children aged 7–16 receiving family interventions from Swedish child and family welfare services
Key finding
Child participation is constructed through a series of small, everyday actions in meetings between child and family social worker