Involving children and young people in research : principles into practice

In this chapter the authors discuss the involvement of children and young people in social care within the wider context of children’s participation and rights, and models of child participation. They then outline how a focus on children’s rights has, to some extent, been reflected in increasing interest in children and young people’s involvement in research, both as participants (or research ‘subjects’) and through their active involvement in the research process, presenting a model for involvement developed by the NCB Research Centre. The practical implications of this model for social care research are then explored through case studies of three NCB Research Centre projects: involving young people in public health research; evaluating the Youth4U Young Inspectors programme with a team of young evaluators; and involving young people in a study exploring why children who have been in care are disproportionately likely to be remanded or sentenced to custody. In the final section the authors consider the lessons from these projects for the involvement of children and young people in research and the implications for social care policy and practice