How to develop and manage a participative organization in social services with children and youth?

• Authors: NAVRÁTIL Pavel
• Year of publication: 2015
• Type: Article in Proceedings
• Conference: The International Scientific Conference INPROFORUM 2015
• MU Faculty or unit: Faculty of Social Studies
• Web: http://ocs.ef.jcu.cz/files/site/2015_pages.pdf
• Field: Management and administrative
• Keywords: children; participation; youth; involvement; social services; development of organization
• Description: The idea that children and adolescents can and should participate in decision-making in the context of social services management for youth and children started to be discussed relatively recently in the Czech Republic (Nosál & Čechová, 2014). Earlier views on participation focused mainly on adults, and at the same time the area of services for children and teenagers was based on the assumption that by involving adults (parents, teachers and so-cial workers) the best interests of the child would automatically be represented. McNeish and Newman (2002) note that currently there is no longer a debate about whether to include children and young people in the decision-making process, but rather ways are being sought to find different approaches to participation which apply in different con-ditions and situations. In the Czech environment, however, it still seems that the involvement of children and teenag-ers in decision-making in the context of social service management is not routine. The text is very first of the outputs of the Czech-Swiss project, whose research and the practical aim is to analyze and transfer experience from children and teenagers participation in the Swiss social services. The goal of the essay is to review the academic and professional literature on the topic of participation of children and adolescents, especially from the domestic and Anglo-Saxon environment to establish conceptual framework and knowledge base for empirical research (which we do not present here).