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Organizing for agency: rethinking the conditions for children's participation in service provision
1a Department for Social and Behavioural Studies , University West , Trollhättan , Sweden.
Insights
Barriers in child care services limit children's involvement. Organizing for children's agency, by valuing their participation and decision-making, enhances service efficiency and creates supportive environments.
Area of Science:
- Child and Adolescent Psychology
- Social Work and Social Policy
- Organizational Studies
Background:
- Child care services often face constraints that hinder children's participation in program development and delivery.
- These constraints include risk management priorities, inadequate understanding of participation, and societal views of children as vulnerable.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the benefits of "organizing for children's agency" within child care services.
- To examine how organizational innovations can foster children's involvement in decision-making.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of three case studies of organizational innovations in child-directed social work.
- Exploration of how child participation is integrated into practice.
Main Results:
- Recognizing children's participation as morally imperative and beneficial for service efficiency creates opportunities for agency.
- Organizational visions and practice ideologies supporting children's involvement are crucial for integrating agency into daily routines.
Conclusions:
- Implementing strategies for children's agency can overcome participation barriers in child care.
- Organizational change that prioritizes children's voices enhances the effectiveness and responsiveness of support programs.
Abstract:
In the organization of child care services, constraints restrict the potential for children's participation in the formation and delivery of support programmes. These constraints involve the prioritization of risk management, poor understandings of what participation entails, and entrenched socio-cultural perspectives of children as vulnerable and requiring protection. However, when children's participation is recognized as an imperative, both morally and as a means of enhancing service efficiency, and when organizational visions and practice ideologies uphold the importance of children's involvement in decision-making, spaces for children's agency can become part of everyday practice routines. Drawing on three examples of organizational innovations in child-directed social work, this article explores the benefits involved in "organizing for children's agency".