How can professionals in child protection, protect, promote, and create collaborative process leading to transformative participation on individual and collective level?

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION IN CHILD PROTECTION
Mimi Petersen1
1 University College Copenhagen
Abstract
This presentation is based on the findings of a co-edited volume published in May 2023;
INTERNATIONAL POLICY EXCHANGE SERIES Published in collaboration with the
Center for International Policy Exchanges University of Maryland
entitled “CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION IN CHILD PROTECTION.” The
overarching question that drives the book is what conditions are conducive to children’s and young
people’s participation occurs in international contexts. The volume analyzes how children and young
people, professionals in public child protection systems, and other organizations involved in protecting
children from violence all over the globe promote children and young people's participation in child
protection practice and research. The book weaves together the work of over 20 contributors who work
as practitioners or scholars in child protection.
Objective: The main objective of this presentation is to present the main takeaways from the book that
are grounded in the book's nine empirical chapters. I will draw on the chapter findings to show how
children’s participation occurs at the institutional levels through child-centric practices by children and
youth and professionals working in public child protection systems and other organizations; at the
cultural level through child-centric values, and at the individual level through children’s actions and
interactions with their communities. At the individual level, children and young people have different
experiences with participation in child protection depending on their social position, such as age, gender,
ability, social class, sexuality, and ethnic, migrant, and national backgrounds.