What role do children play in social services?

Resumo

Greater emphasis is being placed on developing policies that provide services based on the user's perspective and this includes the perspective of children's rights. This study analyses professional practices in interventions involving children and families at 40 Social Services Centres in Barcelona with a view to identifying the degree of child participation. Taking into account the perspective of the different stakeholders, i.e., practitioners as providers and children and families as users, we implemented a mixed methodological research design: data analysis from the city council database (N=56,468); quantitative data collection based on a questionnaire directed to practitioners (N=225); qualitative data collection based on interviews with adults and children (N=39); focus groups made up of practitioners (N=30), and user satisfaction surveys directed to adults (N=280) and children (N=120). We use triangulation for data analysis. Results indicated low child participation, lack of clarity regarding work methods and professional profiles, and problems in evaluating outcomes. Perceptions differed greatly depending on the sources consulted, and this could have implications for policy and practice.