The participation of children: The importance of space and place

Research Committee on Sociology of Childhood, RC53 

Session B: Children´s rights and social justice

Sissel Seim Associate Professor, PhD, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences (OUAC), Department of Social Sciences Paper proposal: I would like to present a paper from the research project: “Talk with us”: Professional Practice and the Participation of Children.

Paper: The participation of Children: The importance of space and place.

In this paper I will focus on the importance of space and place as conditions for strengthening children’s possibilities for participation: 1. What are the understandings about children and childhood that are reflected in the material space or the stage set for talking with children in child protection services? 2. The material environments as conditions that will hinder or promote the children’s possibilities for participation. The empirical basis for the discussion is the research activities in the project Professional Practice and the Participation of Children, conducted at Oslo and Akershus University College, in cooperation with two child protection centres in Oslo. Key words: Children, participation, space and place, protection services