Barriers to ensuring child participation in the daily practice of Lithuanian child welfare professionals

Studies on child participation reveal a significant gap between the declaration of child participation in their own protection and provision processes and the reality of such participation. Reviews of children’s experiences indicate a tendency for children to be ignored or to be engaged merely symbolically. Without meaningful child participation, there is a greater likelihood of overestimating or underestimating violence, misidentifying children’s needs, and selecting protection and provision measures that are not effective enough. It is therefore essential to investigate the factors that prevent meaningful child participation. The views of professionals who decide whether and how to involve children in decision-making, and the obstacles they encounter in achieving child participation in protection and provision processes, are fundamental. This article aims to analyse the obstacles to ensuring child participation based on the everyday experiences of child welfare professionals. To achieve this goal, the following objectives have been set: (1) to identify obstacles to child participation related to the attitudes of street-level bureaucrats towards child participation; (2) to identify obstacles to child participation related to social, organisational, and institutional factors in child protection; and (3) to provide recommendations on how to improve the quality of child participation in child protection and provision processes. The study is based on theoretical approaches of street-level bureaucrats and meaningful child participation. Semi-structured qualitative interviews with child welfare professionals were used to collect empirical data. Sixteen child welfare specialists participated in the study, conducted from November to December 2022. Data analysis identified obstacles that significantly limit the child participation in the child protection process. These include the paternalistic and protectionist approaches of professionals towards children, the influence of their parents (prohibiting communication with specialists, failure to create a safe environment, manipulation of the child’s opinion), lack of specialist competence and measures to facilitate child participation, as well as time constraints and heavy workloads. In practice, the interaction of these obstacles creates conditions for children to be ignored or for their participation to be tokenistic. The article provides conclusions and recommendations for removing the identified barriers.