Challenges in implementing participatory practice in child protection: A contingency approach

In many countries, legislation and policy directives increasingly emphasize the rights of parents to participate in child protection decision-making. As these kinds of initiatives have become more widespread, literature has tended to presume that increased participation of parents in child protection practice is both feasible and desirable. However, despite demonstrated benefits of parents' participation, factors related to the statutory context of child protection work present challenges to translating the ideals of participation into reality. Findings from in-depth interviews with 28 child and family welfare practitioners indicate that effective parent participation is contingent on a range of parent and system factors. Parent factors include parents' willingness to engage with child welfare authorities, their demonstrated understanding of their children's needs, and their willingness to effect parenting changes in order to meet these needs. System factors relate to the power of the child protection system in relation to parents, and the extent to which workers have time for thorough case planning and for building relationships with parents. These factors are clearly interrelated, with some parent factors themselves contingent on parents' prior experiences of the child protection system. Practitioner suggestions for counter-balancing contingency factors as a means to facilitating parent participation are included.