Abstract
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child stipulates the need for children and young people to have a say in matters that affect them. Despite being a signatory to this international legislation, Ghanaian children’s input in child protection decisions are rarely considered. As a measure to improve child participation in decision making, the possible outcomes for involving children in child protection meetings were explored. Twenty-five parents who have been in contact with a Department of Social Welfare in Ghana took part in the study. This study adapted elements of the constructivist grounded theory approach using an in-depth interview method. The interviews were audio recorded, analysed thematically and managed with NVivo software. Analysis of the interview data revealed positive outcomes of cultural integration and alteration, and children becoming responsible parents in the future. On the other hand, the study revealed escalating maltreatment and obstructing children’s education as possible negative outcomes for children when involved in child protection meetings. The findings suggest that child participation in case meetings can present an opportunity to break the cultural barriers of silencing children in decision making. Also, to further protect the child, after-case follow-ups and community sensitisation programmes have to be undertaken by practitioners to mitigate the possibilities of maltreatment from parents following children’s involvement in the child protection process.
Highlights
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Parents perceive that children can learn to be responsible parents the more they are involved in child protection meetings.
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Increasing children’s participation in child protection meetings can change the culture of silence in adult-centric settings.
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Developing and intensifying after-case follow-ups could help to mitigate maltreatments by parents following children’s participation in child protection meetings.
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Ethical approval was obtained from the research unit of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. A written informed consent was sought from all participants to indicate their voluntary participation. Permission in the form of formal letter was submitted to the Head of the Department in early June 2018 to seek official approval to conduct additional interviews with other parents. The letter included information to grant researchers the permission to witness cases as means to identify eligible research participants. Further, participants were assured of confidentiality pertaining information released to the researchers and anonymity regarding their personal information. Pseudonyms were used in cases where participants mentioned names of places or things that could reveal their identity.
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Cudjoe, E., Abdullah, A. & Manful, E. Parents’ Perceptions on the Outcomes of Children’s Participation in Child Protection Meetings in Ghana. J Child Fam Stud 30, 1071–1081 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-021-01918-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-021-01918-2