Valentina Calcaterra

Families’ participation in child protection is a challenge both in its theoretical interpretation and practice implementation. When social workers have to protect children from their own family, they must reflect on how to guarantee the exercise of parents and children’s rights and duties. After a brief outline of research on parents and children’s participation in Child Protection, this paper presents results from quantitative research. Social workers are asked to define the concept of participation...

The importance of involving children and young people in decisions that affect their lives is being increasingly recognized. However, even in the presence of a relationship of trust, children are not always able or willing to talk to the adults responsible for them or those who make decisions about their lives. This difficulty could arise from the lack of confidentiality or because children know that the social workers have to decide important things about their lives. Young people are not supported by an independent practitioner dedicated to them are unlikely to participate fully in decision-making meetings and have their voice taken seriously...