Professional Innovations Based on the Comprehensive Participation with ICT Solutions of Children and Young Adults in the Hungarian Child Protection System
Child protection systems are multi-disciplinary and intersectional, their tasks are multi-faceted, based on collaboration with co-professionals, they require a high level of expertise, and a complex system of resources and services to ensure their high quality. Legal and policy systems, child protection services, formal and non-formal care, and benefits are also fundamental components of child protection systems (Wessels, 2015). Child protection is a complex process, with family emotional ties making it difficult for professionals to find a balance between working with and intervening in families to protect children (Cossar, 2013).
The presentation shows how research to develop child-friendly digital tools can contribute to collecting children’s views on their needs related to child protection support and how the process of listening to children can improve parenting and caregiving responses to the needs of younger and older children living with their families or in the child protection system. We analyse the effect of digital applications (YounGo and Asszerteen app) on children’s and young people’s capacity to advance toward autonomy. These projects gave an opportunity for children and youth in the public care system to describe their lives and wishes for the future. The conclusions of the analysis are: 1. for a functional child protection model children’s voices need to be amplified; 2. expressing their voices children and youth become more autonomous; 3. children’s voices contribute to the decrease of social prejudices against children and young people in care system; 4. Listening to children and care leavers helps the professionals working in the foster care system to better understand their beneficiaries.