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Social Sciences
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Parental Participation in Child Protection
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Parental Participation in Child Protection

A special issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760). This special issue belongs to the section "Childhood and Youth Studies".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2024) | Viewed by 2779

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Andy Bilson

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Guest Editor
School of Health, Social Work and Sport, University of Central Lancashire, Preston PR1 2HE, UK
Interests: child protection; adoption; children in care; parent advocacy; children's rights
Dr. Simon Haworth

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Social Work and Social Care, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
Interests: social work and social harm; fatherhood and social work; parent advocacy; leadership in social work

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The overarching aim of child protection and child welfare systems should be to support parents and families in the care of their children and to enable children to grow up in safe, loving, and nurturing families. Nevertheless, child welfare systems throughout the world too often fail to protect children, focusing on parental blame rather than family need, and they often do not provide the support families need, with increasing numbers of separated and, in some cases, harmed children in their care.

Given this background, this Special Issue aims to extend the evidence base and provide a space to hear parents’ accounts of the impact of increasing parent participation through parent advocacy in child welfare decision-making at the case, programme, and policy levels. We would value papers examining the opportunities and challenges parent advocacy creates; lessons learnt across different settings, countries, and contexts; and evidence of the benefits of supporting such engagement in system transformation.

We invite academic papers written in plain language, written by and with parents with lived experience of the child protection/child welfare system. If you are interested and would like to know more, please contact the Editorial Team. Tammy Mayes, Taliah Drayak and Nicola Lancaster (parents with lived experience) will act as assistant editors.

Prof. Andy Bilson
Dr. Simon Haworth
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Social Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • child protection
  • parent participation
  • parent advocacy
  • child welfare
  • co-production

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 3479 KiB  
Article
Co-Producing Resources to Improve Parenting: A Peer-Research Study with Mothers at Risk
by Alícia Borrego-Tarragó, Maria Àngels Balsells, Aida Urrea-Monclús and Sara Rodríguez-Pérez
Soc. Sci. 2025, 14(4), 194; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14040194 - 24 Mar 2025
Viewed by 263
Abstract
The participation of families in socio-educational processes is a key topic in applied research, offering new strategies for family support. However, active participation in the research process itself remains a challenge. This study aims to define a participatory research process with mothers at [...] Read more.
The participation of families in socio-educational processes is a key topic in applied research, offering new strategies for family support. However, active participation in the research process itself remains a challenge. This study aims to define a participatory research process with mothers at social risk to co-produce a resource aimed at improving parenting skills. A qualitative, participatory approach was used with a peer research process, following the phases of preparation, audience, and validation with a group of mothers supported by social services. The results identified the phases of the process and the conditions and limits in each. Preparation included organizing the workshop logistics, recruiting participants, and holding an introductory session for those who chose to participate as researchers. In the audience phase, the sequence, use of materials, and generated group dynamics were highlighted. Finally, in the validation phase, dialogue and consensus were used as methods for discussion and decision-making. Incorporating mothers as researchers generates new perspectives on parenting in at-risk contexts and enables the creation of resources that better meet family needs. This participatory approach highlights the importance of including parents in research to develop more effective support tools for vulnerable families. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Parental Participation in Child Protection)
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21 pages, 293 KiB  
Article
The Impossibility of ‘Good Mothering’ in Child Welfare Systems When Referred for Non-Traditional Harms
by Nikki Rutter, Carlene Firmin, Donna Garvey, Kate O’Brien and Rachael Owens
Soc. Sci. 2025, 14(2), 97; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14020097 - 10 Feb 2025
Viewed by 1223
Abstract
Due to harmful narratives within child welfare and child protection services and systems, mothers in contact with these services who aim to meet the symbolic representation of the ‘ideal mother’ frequently find themselves being portrayed as the ‘bad mother’, even when their referral [...] Read more.
Due to harmful narratives within child welfare and child protection services and systems, mothers in contact with these services who aim to meet the symbolic representation of the ‘ideal mother’ frequently find themselves being portrayed as the ‘bad mother’, even when their referral is ‘non-traditional’ (i.e., not specifically due to their perceived harmful actions or inactions). Through ‘ideal mother’ symbolism and narratives, there is disenfranchisement of service-engaged mothers; they are mistreated by services, which is normalised by wider discourses around motherhood. Mothers within these child welfare systems consistently experience judgement, the problematising of their parenting practices, and disempowerment despite not being the direct cause of harm to their children. This creates a sense of shame and makes the injustice of mothers’ experiences within child welfare systems invisible. This is a conceptual paper combining data generated from previously published work and a lived experience example (work with young mothers; mothers in contact with the criminal justice system; mothers with children who cause harm; and those with children experiencing extra-familial harm) using qualitative, participatory, and action-based approaches, and through emancipatory interview processes, disenfranchised mothers described their contact with child welfare and child protection systems as a source of structural, political, and/or societal injustice. Thus, such qualitative emancipatory work provides ways to acknowledge mothers in contact with child welfare services due to non-traditional harms, as they are a disadvantaged group who are too often disempowered to action change. Thus, we argue that participatory and action-based research should be a preferred method of exploring mothers’ experiences of child welfare systems, opening routes for reforming, as well as understanding systematic potential of services as oppressive and problematising rather than supportive and empowering. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Parental Participation in Child Protection)
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