Participation - an obvious right? : A qualitative study about children with disabilities’ possibilities for participation in social work

This study aims to investigate how social workers describe children’s participation and how children with disabilities are involved in decision-making processes in social work. Focus lies on how social workers encourage participation for children with disabilities, which possibilities and barriers for such participation they describe, and which methods they use to encourage children’s participation. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with seven social workers who work with children with disabilities. The data was analyzed with thematic analysis, using Shier’s (2001) Pathways to Participation as a theoretical raster. The results show that no distinct definition for participation could be identified among the social workers and that children rarely are involved in decision-making even though their opinions can be given importance. Social workers pursue to involve children in decision-making by meeting them face-to-face, and by providing them with information about the decision-making process. The results show multiple possibilities and barriers for participation. Overall, it is evident that the extent to which working methods pursuing children’s participation are used varies, and that the use of specific methods is undeveloped. There is also a lack of knowledge according to specific methods for children who don’t use spoken language