Peer-reviewed article
Child Participation in the Swedish Child Protection System
Pernilla Leviner ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This legal analysis examines how well children can participate and influence decisions in Sweden's child protection system. The study finds that while Sweden promotes itself as 'child-friendly', there is a significant gap between theory and practice, with children often legally excluded from involvement in decisions affecting them. The research argues that the Swedish system needs to clarify what child participation should mean and find better ways to genuinely include children's voices in child protection decisions.
Key points
- Swedish child protection system emphasises child participation in theory and goal-oriented statutes, but children are largely 'legally protected' from involvement in practice
- The regulation does not clearly define what participation should achieve or what weight children's wishes and views should be given
- There is a gap between Sweden's 'child-friendly image' and actual child participation practices
- Children are significantly excluded from influencing decisions made about them in the system
- The system needs to reconsider how to meaningfully achieve participation and clarify what participation means in practice
Limitations
This is a legal analysis rather than an empirical study, so it does not provide data on how many children are affected or quantitative evidence of participation outcomes. The document does not include direct evidence from children or practitioners about their experiences with the system.
Abstract
This article deals with children’s right to participation through legal representatives in the Swedish child protection system, with a specific focus on if and how children are given the possibility to influence decisions made about them in this context. An overall question is whether the regulation is clear as to what should be achieved when it comes to participation for children and what weight children’s wishes and views should be given. Based on a critical legal analysis it is shown that the Swedish system, although having a clear ‘child-friendly image’, is problematic in both these aspects. At present, child participation in the Swedish system is emphasised in theory and in goal-oriented statutes, while at the same time, children to a large extent are ‘legally protected’ from involvement, not the least from influencing decisions made. It is suggested that, for the Swedish child protection system to truly meet its “child-friendly” image and honestly look into how to become more child-inclusive, there is a need to re-think how to best achieve participation for children and also clarify what participation is intended to mean in practice.