This book explains and discusses how a child’s right to freedom of expression is upheld through practice and decision-making in Child Protection Services (CPS).
Using the right to expression as stipulated in Article 12.2 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) as a point of departure, it explains what CPS practices should look like and how they must operate to uphold and enforce the rights of the child by providing "the opportunity to be heard" in any administrative practice. Current research literature documents extensively, and across countries, how either the voice of the child is not heard or, alternatively, the existence of a pro forma/tokenistic approach to listening to the child throughout CPS practices. Taking a three-fold approach, this book
establishes a clearer connection between rights and professional practice according to Article 12
extrapolates how rights-based practice is achieved during CPS practices
provides a comprehensive answer to the challenge of implementing Article 12.2 through policy and legislation.
Author(s): Asgeir Falch-Eriksen, Karmen Toros
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 130
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Contributor Bios
Preface
1 Children’s Right to Express Themselves in Child Protection Casework
The Normative Bias to Professional Practices – The Case of Article 12 of the CRC
Article 12 and the Human Rights Standard
Human Rights Standard, the Fiduciary Role of CPS, and the Child’s Best Interests
Regulating CPS through Human Rights
Rights-Based Practice and Discretion
The Progression of the Book
2 Rights-Based Professional Practice: Situating the Academic Discourse
Decisions in the Best Interests of the Child
Meaningful Participation of Children and Participation Models
Children’s Participation in the Decision-Making Process
Professionalism in Children’s Participation in Child Welfare Practices
Acknowledgement
3 Professional Child Protection and the Child’s Freedom of Expression
Constitutional Rights, Optimisation Requirements, and Professional Practice
The Human Rights Standard
The Human Rights Standard and Indivisibility of Human Rights
Violation of Dignity as Violation of Best Interests
Child’s Best Interests and the Right to Liberty
Professional Practice and CRC Article 12
Conclusion
Acknowledgement
4 The Case of Assessment: Child Participation during Administrative Proceedings
Assessment Framework
Children’s Experiences of Participation in Child Protection Assessment
Concluding Thoughts on Meaningful Child Participation – Moving towards Rights-Based Professional Practice
Acknowledgement
5 Child Protection Workers Follow-up with Children in Foster Care and Emergency Units/Homes
What Follow-up Do Children Placed in Care Receive?
Rights and Follow-up through ‘a common third’
The ‘Alex’ Case
The Different Follow-up Components
The Role and Importance of Article 12 in Relation to Follow-up
Safeguarding Human Rights and the Core Activity of Social Work. Two Sides of the Same Coin?
6 The Case of Social Rehabilitation
Rights-Based Practice in Rehabilitation
Rights-Based Practices through Child-Friendly Justice
Components of Interprofessional Collaboration in Social Rehabilitation through CFJ
Case Examples: Perceptions on Participation among Dually Involved Children
Concluding Remarks: Improving Participation for Dually Involved Children in Practice
7 Participation of Children in Residential Care
Residential Care
Rights and Residential Care
The Example from an Ethnographic Study in Estonia: The Need to Feel Loved
Child Citizenship in the Context of Residential Care
Conclusion
8 Conclusion: Making Rights a Part of Professional Practice
Article 12 and Professional Practice
Rights-Based Professional Practice
Child Participation – Some Key Notions
An Example of Active Child Participation: Active Listening through Storytelling
Conclusion: The Reality of Rights
Index
