According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the goal of a social justice approach for children is to ensure that children “are better served and protected by justice systems, including the security and social welfare sectors.” Despite this worthy goal, the UN documents how children are rarely viewed as stakeholders in justice rules of law; child justice issues are often dealt with separate from larger justice and security issues; and when justice issues for children are addressed, it is often through a siloed, rather than a comprehensive approach. This volume actively challenges the current youth social justice paradigm through terminology and new approaches that place children and young people front and center in the social justice conversation. Through international consideration, children and young people worldwide are incorporated into the social justice conversation.

Keeping children and young people safe is everybody’s responsibility. This requires health, social care and education professionals to make sense of complex family situations that are placing a child or young person at risk of harm. This is no easy feat. The actions we take matter and we need to get this right if we are to truly make things better and improve outcomes for children and young people. Using case studies, reflective questions and checklists for practice, this hands-on guide will provide you with the knowledge and skills you need to effectively and confidently make a difference to the lives of children and young people. This series of books from Learning Matters is aimed at busy social work and health care practitioners, particularly in the context of integrated health and social care, who are looking to enhance their skills and extend their knowledge. Written from a practical point of view, they have clear links to both qualifying training as well as CPD. They are up-to-date, accessible and totally skills focused.

Written from a unique interprofessional perspective, this book is an essential introduction to working with children, young people and families. It covers policy, practice and theory, exploring key themes and developments, including: - poverty and disadvantage - ethical practice - child development - education - child protection - children and young people's rights - doing research. The book introduces students to a range of theoretical perspectives, links the key themes to the existing and emerging policy and practice context and supports students in engaging with and evaluating the central debates. With case studies, reflective questions and sources of further reading, this is an ideal text for students taking courses in childhood studies, working with children, young people and families, interprofessional children's services, early years, youth work and social work.

Bringing together theories, ideas, insights and experiences of practitioners and researchers from Brazil, India, South Africa and the UK, this book explores children and young people's involvement in public action. The contributors consider the potential of children and young people's participation to be transformative.

This book sets out a clear framework for conducting participatory research with children and young people within a discussion of the rights of the child. Through extensive case studies and a close review of contemporary literature, in relation to early childhood through to late adolescence, the book serves as a critical guide to issues in participative research for students and researchers. The book includes chapters on: Designing your research project Ethical considerations Innovative methods Publication and dissemination.

How do views about children shape research concerned with their lives? What different forms can research with children take? What ethical issues does it involve? How does it impact on policy and practice, and on the lives of children themselves? This book helps you to understand how research is designed and carried out to explore questions about the lives of children and young people. It tackles the methodological, practical and ethical challenges involved, and features examples of actual research that illustrate: Different strategies for carrying out research Common challenges that arise in the research process Varying modes of engagement that researchers can adopt with participants and audiences; and The impact that research can have on future studies, policy and practice.

This book provides a clear framework for conducting participatory research with children and young people supported with practical examples from international research studies. Our aim is to encourage more participatory research with children and young people on all matters that affect their lives. This book illustrates innovative ways of being participatory and sheds new light on involvement strategies that play to children’s and young people’s competencies. Participatory research is based on the recognition of children and young people as active contributors rather than objects of research. Participatory researchers support and value the voices of children and young people in all matters that concern them. Core to participatory research practice is a strengths-based approach that aims to promote the active engagement of children and young people in all stages of research, from inception to implementation and beyond. Engagement of children and young people requires the use of creative, participatory methods, tools and involvement strategies to reveal children’s competencies. This book shares knowledge about creative participatory techniques that can enable and promote children’s ways of expressing their views and experiences. The book provides guidance on appropriate techniques that reduce the power differential in the adult-child relationship and which optimise children’s abilities to participate in research. This book is targeted at researchers, academics, and practitioners who need guidance on what tools are available, how the tools can be used, advantages and challenges, and how best to involve children in all stages of a research project. It will provide several examples of how children can have an active participatory role in research. There is increasing interest in involving children as co-researchers but little guidance on how this can be done. This book fills a this gap by addressing all of these issues and by providing worked examples from leading researchers and academics.