The minority report: children as consultants in social work research

This paper is based on a doctoral study that aims to contribute to social work knowledge and the sociology of childhood by exploring social workers’ views of childhood, how they understand the relationship between their ways of seeing children and how they work with them and what they consider to be significant in child-centred practice. The study adopts an action research approach so that the research findings are incorporated into an agenda for change and practice development.

The paper discusses the methodological research issues relating to participation of children and young people in research and describes how a group of social work service users aged between 13 and 16 years are involved as expert consultants to inform the process of the research and help ensure it is on the side of children. The basis for their inclusion as consultants is that they have the social experience and social competence to help to focus the research, improve the quality of data, clarify the analysis and interpretation, and provide new insights that would not be achieved without them.

This approach has implications for ethical practice both in making contact with the young people as research consultants and whilst carrying out the research. The paper explains how the researcher’s perspective on childhood affects the position taken and how issues of information giving, consent and confidentiality were handled in the research process.

Finally the paper will present some preliminary findings on how social workers understand, define and describe children’s realities and the strategies that facilitate individual children and young people’s choice and control in decisions that affect their lives.