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Participation of Children Involved in the Child Protection System – Validation of the Meaningful Participation Assessment Tool (MPAT)

Author

Listed:
  • Floor Middel

    (University of Groningen)

  • Wendy Post

    (University of Groningen)

  • Mónica López López

    (University of Groningen)

  • Hans Grietens

    (KU Leuven)

Abstract

Children have the right to participate in child protection investigations. Although research suggests that participation is related to positive outcomes of children in the child protection system, children’s participation is not always facilitated in practice. Therefore, it is important to validate tools that can be used to further investigate children’s participation. We examined the psychometric properties (i.e., reliability, internal validity, and external validity) of the Meaningful Participation Assessment Tool (MPAT), which measures the degree in which child protection professionals enable children’s participation in child protection investigations. The MPAT is based on the Model of Meaningful Participation (Bouma et al. 2018) and distinguishes three domains of children’s participation in child protection: 1) informing, 2) hearing, and 3) involving in decision-making. It consists of 13 items. We validated the MPAT based on data from 292 child protection cases. We concluded that the MPAT was reliable, internally valid and externally valid. The MPAT’s reliability was reflected by substantial Cohen’s Kappa coefficients ranging from .63 to .92. The Mokken scale analysis revealed a strong scale of 8 items (H = .70, Rho = .89). Items on seeing and hearing children about child protection topics seemed relatively more easy to achieve compared to items on providing children with information, which suggests that child protection workers may struggle most with informing children. Lastly, we concluded that the MPAT might be externally valid because we found higher MPAT scores for subgroups based on child protection institution, age, and gender, which was in line with our expectations.

Suggested Citation

  • Floor Middel & Wendy Post & Mónica López López & Hans Grietens, 2021. "Participation of Children Involved in the Child Protection System – Validation of the Meaningful Participation Assessment Tool (MPAT)," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(2), pages 713-735, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:chinre:v:14:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1007_s12187-020-09772-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s12187-020-09772-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Balsells, M. Ángeles & Fuentes-Peláez, Nuria & Pastor, Crescencia, 2017. "Listening to the voices of children in decision-making: A challenge for the child protection system in Spain," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 418-425.
    2. Križ, Katrin & Roundtree-Swain, Dakota, 2017. "“We are merchandise on a conveyer belt”: How young adults in the public child protection system perceive their participation in decisions about their care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 32-40.
    3. Katrina Lloyd & Lesley Emerson, 2017. "(Re)examining the Relationship Between Children’s Subjective Wellbeing and Their Perceptions of Participation Rights," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 10(3), pages 591-608, September.
    4. van Bijleveld, G.G. & Dedding, C.W.M. & Bunders-Aelen, J.F.G., 2014. "Seeing eye to eye or not? Young people's and child protection workers' perspectives on children's participation within the Dutch child protection and welfare services," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(P3), pages 253-259.
    5. Witte, Susanne, 2020. "Case file analyses in child protection research: Review of methodological challenges and development of a framework," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    6. Roger A. Hart, 1992. "Children's Participation: From tokenism to citizenship," Papers inness92/6, Innocenti Essay.
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