Abstract
Empowering Futures: Building a Sustainable Society Through Child Participation
From Playgrounds to Policy. Children and Stakeholders Unite
Authors: Researchers, practitioners, PROs, participants in the Child Rights network, Cri
Number of chapters: In addition to an introductory and concluding chapter written by the editors, the book will consist of three parts written from different perspectives on children's participation:
Part 1) Written from a child's perspective and contains a chapter on children's participation from a child's perspective, and a chapter on children's participation from a child's
development perspective.
Part 2) is written from the perspective of professional actors and focuses on challenges and opportunities to use the legislation that is current in working with children. This part consists of four chapters where the first is based on actors' perspectives on opportunities and challenges with children's participation. The second chapter concerns the implementation of
the Convention on the Rights of the Child in the Nordic countries, while chapter three focuses on the implementation of the Children's Law in Denmark. The last chapter in part two deals with interpretation and understanding of the concept of the best interests of the child and its
implementation in practice.
Part 3) In this chapter, a societal perspective is adopted and, based on an overall picture of the importance of children's opportunity for participation and professional actors' opportunities to perform their duties, the consequences for society are reasoned. This part consists of three chapters, the first of which highlights the importance of children's participation from a more comprehensive societal perspective. The second chapter concerns the relationship between children's rights and human rights. In conclusion, children's
participation is touched upon from a socio-economic perspective.
We thus see that there are three perspectives that are important to highlight in order to create understanding and prerequisites for a strong society based on a child's perspective: the child, the professionals and society at large.
Content. The purpose of the book is partly to clarify the conditions for children's
participation, but also to raise the conditions of the actors in this work. The examples are taken from the Nordic countries. Based on social, legal, and economic norms, the book discusses the challenges society has to make children participate in society to a greater extent.
This is discussed both from the perspective of children and from the perspective of professional actors, where children as actors are particularly highlighted. The importance of involving children and the actors' ability to carry out their work is then discussed from a
societal perspective where the strength and future of society is assumed to be dependent on children's trust in and participation in society. In the book, we assume that the lack of a
functioning collaboration between children as actors and professional actors who are supposed to work with/for children can lead to several serious consequences, such as, for example, a lack of trust in society (society's representatives) and in the legitimacy of legislation.
There are shortcomings in how laws are followed and interpreted (See for example SOU 2016:19)., This can be an expression of various circumstances such as a lack of knowledge but also the scope for interpretation that many of the laws and concepts relating to children's rights involve and that children are not allowed be involved in the societal processes and decisions concerning them. (See, for example, Åström 1988; Petersen in Ponnert & Sonander
2001 (eds.). This applies above all to the four main articles in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, where both the best interests of children and children's participation are clear examples. Children's participation in the legislative process itself is also highlighted. The
common thread in the book is the relationship between law in books and law in action (see for example Pound 1959), where there is a difference between what the law says (in cases where it expresses an objective) and how the law is implemented and used in practice. Concrete examples from the Nordic countries will be used in the book.The idea is that the book, through its different perspectives, should contribute to further
reflection on the relationship between children's legal position in terms of participation (to democratic participation), the actual participation in practice and professional actors (opportunities and challenges) to work from a children's rights perspective. More overall, the
idea with the book can be said to be to highlight the importance of creating good conditions for children's participation and a strong society, but also to discuss the challenges and conditions participation can entail from different perspectives.
The book is aimed at students, researchers, and practitioners.
From Playgrounds to Policy. Children and Stakeholders Unite
Authors: Researchers, practitioners, PROs, participants in the Child Rights network, Cri
Number of chapters: In addition to an introductory and concluding chapter written by the editors, the book will consist of three parts written from different perspectives on children's participation:
Part 1) Written from a child's perspective and contains a chapter on children's participation from a child's perspective, and a chapter on children's participation from a child's
development perspective.
Part 2) is written from the perspective of professional actors and focuses on challenges and opportunities to use the legislation that is current in working with children. This part consists of four chapters where the first is based on actors' perspectives on opportunities and challenges with children's participation. The second chapter concerns the implementation of
the Convention on the Rights of the Child in the Nordic countries, while chapter three focuses on the implementation of the Children's Law in Denmark. The last chapter in part two deals with interpretation and understanding of the concept of the best interests of the child and its
implementation in practice.
Part 3) In this chapter, a societal perspective is adopted and, based on an overall picture of the importance of children's opportunity for participation and professional actors' opportunities to perform their duties, the consequences for society are reasoned. This part consists of three chapters, the first of which highlights the importance of children's participation from a more comprehensive societal perspective. The second chapter concerns the relationship between children's rights and human rights. In conclusion, children's
participation is touched upon from a socio-economic perspective.
We thus see that there are three perspectives that are important to highlight in order to create understanding and prerequisites for a strong society based on a child's perspective: the child, the professionals and society at large.
Content. The purpose of the book is partly to clarify the conditions for children's
participation, but also to raise the conditions of the actors in this work. The examples are taken from the Nordic countries. Based on social, legal, and economic norms, the book discusses the challenges society has to make children participate in society to a greater extent.
This is discussed both from the perspective of children and from the perspective of professional actors, where children as actors are particularly highlighted. The importance of involving children and the actors' ability to carry out their work is then discussed from a
societal perspective where the strength and future of society is assumed to be dependent on children's trust in and participation in society. In the book, we assume that the lack of a
functioning collaboration between children as actors and professional actors who are supposed to work with/for children can lead to several serious consequences, such as, for example, a lack of trust in society (society's representatives) and in the legitimacy of legislation.
There are shortcomings in how laws are followed and interpreted (See for example SOU 2016:19)., This can be an expression of various circumstances such as a lack of knowledge but also the scope for interpretation that many of the laws and concepts relating to children's rights involve and that children are not allowed be involved in the societal processes and decisions concerning them. (See, for example, Åström 1988; Petersen in Ponnert & Sonander
2001 (eds.). This applies above all to the four main articles in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, where both the best interests of children and children's participation are clear examples. Children's participation in the legislative process itself is also highlighted. The
common thread in the book is the relationship between law in books and law in action (see for example Pound 1959), where there is a difference between what the law says (in cases where it expresses an objective) and how the law is implemented and used in practice. Concrete examples from the Nordic countries will be used in the book.The idea is that the book, through its different perspectives, should contribute to further
reflection on the relationship between children's legal position in terms of participation (to democratic participation), the actual participation in practice and professional actors (opportunities and challenges) to work from a children's rights perspective. More overall, the
idea with the book can be said to be to highlight the importance of creating good conditions for children's participation and a strong society, but also to discuss the challenges and conditions participation can entail from different perspectives.
The book is aimed at students, researchers, and practitioners.
| Originalsprog | Engelsk |
|---|
| Antal sider | 300 |
|---|---|
| Status | Udgivet - 20 dec. 2025 |