What do actors in child protection processes in Sweden know about children’s rights to participation and about talking to children?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Enhancing children’s participation in child protection is a frequent issue in social work. The aim of this article is to investigate the perceived knowledge and educational demands of actors in Sweden’s child protection system, regarding children’s right to participation and actors’ perceived ability to communicate with children. This article will try to answer two specific research questions: How do the social workers, lawyers and laypersons perceive their knowledge of legal frameworks concerning children’s right to participate? How do the social workers, lawyers and laypersons perceive their ability to communicate with children? This article builds on a survey, with both closed and open answer alternatives, of study participants involved in child protection decisions: social workers, lawyers and laypersons. The results show that, according to their self-ratings, knowledge of the legal framework and administrative rules for child protection were judged to be adequate amongst the three examined groups of actors, however they declared a need for a variety of educational support for the different actors. The need to develop more child-friendly communications skills was also identified. The discussion raises the question of whether or not the layperson system in Sweden enhances children’ participation.