Children’s Participation in Decision Making From Child Welfare Workers’ Perspectives: A Systematic Review

This systematic review examined how child welfare workers in Estonia approach children's participation in decision-making within child protection systems. The review included 12 peer-reviewed articles published between 2009 and 2019. It found that children are generally given limited or no opportunity to participate in decisions affecting them. The child's age strongly influences whether they are included in decision-making, and workers often cite potential harm to the child as a reason to exclude them from participation.

Key points

• Children's participation in decision making in child protection systems is generally limited or nonexistent
• Age of the child is an important determining factor in whether participation is offered
• Child welfare workers consider potential harm to children when deciding whether to include them in decision-making
• Review covered 12 peer-reviewed articles published from 2009 to 2019
• Study follows PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) principles

Limitations

This is a systematic review synthesizing workers' perspectives rather than direct evidence of child outcomes or the impact of participation policies on children themselves. The review does not assess whether excluding children from decision-making actually prevents harm or whether participation would benefit children.