Peer-reviewed article
Children’s Participation in Child Welfare: A Systematic Review of Systematic Reviews
Paul McCafferty, Esther Mercado García ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This systematic review of systematic reviews examined how well children and young people involved with child welfare agencies can participate and have their views heard, as required by Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The researchers searched fourteen databases and reviewed fourteen systematic reviews on this topic. They found three key themes: children's voices are often not taken seriously, relationships matter significantly for participation, and the context in which participation happens is important. Overall, the review concludes that despite legal requirements to involve children in child protection decisions, their ability to express their views remains limited.
Key points
- Fourteen systematic reviews were identified and included in this umbrella review after searching six hundred seventy-four initial hits
- Three main themes emerged: children's voices are not taken seriously, relationships are important for (un)successful participation, and context matters
- Despite UNCRC Article 12 requirements mandating children's involvement in child protection systems, opportunities for children and young people to express their views remain restricted
- All fourteen included systematic reviews were appraised using an eleven-point quality checklist from the JBI Manual
Limitations
This is a systematic review of other systematic reviews rather than primary research, so it synthesises existing evidence rather than generating new data. The specific interventions or programmes that might improve participation are not detailed in the abstract provided.
Abstract
Abstract The objective of this research was to conduct a systematic review of systematic reviews related to Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) as it relates to children and young people involved with child welfare agencies. This systematic review sought to comply with the guidance from the JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis on umbrella reviews. Fourteen databases were searched using predefined terms. Six hundred seventy-four original hits were retrieved for title and abstract searching after independent searching by the authors. Of those, fourteen were included for full independent reads and all fourteen were selected after discussion. Each systematic review was appraised using an eleven-point quality checklist from JBI. A thematic review was conducted to ascertain the themes across all systematic reviews. Three themes emerged (i) children’s voice is not taken seriously; (ii) relationships are an important determining factor in (un)successful participation; and (iii) the context of participation is important. Our conclusion is that despite mandated UNCRC requirements to involve children and young people within the child protection system, the possibilities for children and young people to express their views remain restricted.