| Abstract: | Summary This paper is concerned with children's involvement in decisionsand with what happens when adults communicate with childrento discover their thoughts and feelings. It is based on a studyof the participation of children aged between 8 and 12 in decisionswhen they are looked after by local authorities. The paper brieflydescribes the research and its main findings, before going onto describe aspects of the methodology in more detail. Thisleads to a discussion of the relationship between the methodsused in the research and those used in the social work practicethat was in part the subject of the research. The paper arguesthat, both in research and in practice, a commitment to involvingchildren in decision making must go with a determination tofind methods of communication that enable children to demonstratetheir competence. |
