How Looked After Children are Involved in their Review Process

Abstract

Children reporting on their research: Introduction by Mary Kellett. Following is an example of a children’s report on their own research project which I presented to the Symposium on “Children as Experts in their own Lives”. At the time I drew attention to the way in which less powerful groups are empowered within a context where their interests are more likely to be met, and when they set and lead their own research agendas. This situation has been shown to be the case for feminist, ethnic minority and disability research groups. Historically, research has been based on an adult way of looking at the world and, consequently, the knowledge generated is about adult experiences. The legitimacy of research into children’s worlds and children’s lived experiences, where the research is conceived wholly from an adult perspective, is open to challenge. The research agendas children prioritise, the research questions they frame and the ways in which they collect data can be substantially different and space has to be made to accommodate them. Moreover, evaluation data suggests that children’s engagement in the research process, particularly when this is about issues of concern to them, results in an augmentation of agency in their own and other children’s lives (Davies, B., & Ryan-Vig, S. (2004), Girls want to play too, https://childrens-research-centre.open.ac.uk [accessed 29/09/09]; Kellett, M., & Dar, A. (2007), Eleven year olds researching links between poverty and literacy. Published by Joseph Rowntree Foundation, York, UK.). Arguably, the biggest impact of research by children is the contribution it makes to knowledge and understanding of childhood and children’s worlds. The number of child-led studies is growing steadily. The report (2008) that follows is authored by a group of young people in the UK care system who researched issues about their care review processes. The language, style and format of the report are their choice and have not been changed. The strength of the study is its insider perspectives. Young person to young person data were generated from within a peer culture where adults are outsiders. It is hoped that this paper will makes an important contribution to the scholarly debate on the place of children in child well-being indicator research.