Children’s Participation in Care and Protection Decision-Making Matters

IF 1.3 Q1 LAW
Laws Pub Date : 2023-06-01 DOI:10.3390/laws12030049
J. Cashmore, P. Kong, M. Mclaine
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

Laws and policies in different jurisdictions provide a range of mechanisms that allow children involved in child protection processes and care proceedings to express their views when decisions that affect them are being made. Whether these mechanisms facilitate children’s involvement and whether they result in children’s views being heard and “given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child”, as required by article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, is the focus of this article. The law, policy and practice in New South Wales, Australia, are used to provide a contextual illustration of the wider theoretical and practical issues, drawing on international comparisons and research. It is clear there is still some way to go to satisfy the requirements of article 12 in Australia and other jurisdictions. These mechanisms often do not provide the information children need to understand the process, nor do they consistently encourage meaningful participation through trusted advocates who can accurately convey children’s views to those making the decisions. It is generally unclear how children’s views are heard, interpreted, and weighted in decision-making processes. The research findings from a number of countries, however, are clear and consistent that children often feel ‘unheard’ and that they have had few opportunities to say what is important to them. A number of conclusions and practice suggestions are outlined for how the law could better accommodate children’s views.
儿童参与照料和保护决策事项
不同司法管辖区的法律和政策提供了一系列机制,允许参与儿童保护程序和护理程序的儿童在做出影响他们的决定时表达他们的意见。这些机制是否有助于儿童的参与,是否能按照《联合国儿童权利公约》第12条的要求,听取儿童的意见并“根据儿童的年龄和成熟程度给予应有的重视”,是本条的重点。利用国际比较和研究,澳大利亚新南威尔士州的法律、政策和实践为更广泛的理论和实践问题提供了背景说明。显然,在澳大利亚和其他法域,要满足第12条的要求还有一段路要走。这些机制往往无法提供儿童理解这一过程所需的信息,也无法始终鼓励通过值得信赖的倡导者进行有意义的参与,这些倡导者能够准确地将儿童的观点传达给决策者。通常不清楚在决策过程中如何听取、解释和权衡儿童的观点。然而,来自多个国家的研究结果是明确和一致的,即儿童经常感到“闻所未闻”,他们几乎没有机会说出对他们来说重要的事情。关于法律如何更好地照顾儿童的意见,概述了一些结论和实践建议。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Laws
Laws LAW-
CiteScore
2.00
自引率
16.70%
发文量
77
审稿时长
11 weeks
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