Citation

Walker J, Misca G. Fam. Court Rev. 2019; 57(3): 375-386.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/fcre.12417

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

During the last 30 years, there has been a growing body of evidence indicating that children and young people often feel marginalized when their parents are making critical decisions that will shape their young lives, and they are calling for family justice professionals to hear their voices. This article explores the research evidence, examines the relevant theories about child development, and demonstrates how a focus on age-related competency fails to take account of children's subjective meanings about their lives. The authors consider a model of participation first designed to understand adult participation in government and show how this can be usefully applied to understanding children's participation in family justice.

Language: en

Keywords

Child Development; Child-Inclusive Mediation; Children and Decision Making; Children and Young People; Children's Rights; Confidentiality in Mediation; Hearing Children's Voices