The Participation of Children and Adolescents in the Protection System: The Case of the Spanish Legislation

Anna Massons-Ribas, M. Àngels Balsells and Neus Cortada
Additional contact information
Anna Massons-Ribas: Department of Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, Psychology and Social Work, University of Lleida (UdL), 25001 Lleida, Spain
M. Àngels Balsells: Department of Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, Psychology and Social Work, University of Lleida (UdL), 25001 Lleida, Spain
Neus Cortada: Department of Private Law, Faculty of Law, Economics and Tourism, University of Lleida (UdL), 25001 Lleida, Spain

Social Sciences, 2021, vol. 10, issue 7, 1-13

Abstract: Children’s right to participation is enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), specifically in Article 12; however, the participation of children in the protection system continues to be a challenge. There is a need for a paradigm shift, in which children and adolescents (CA) are considered as active subjects of rights in all areas of their lives, and that means allowing them to participate in decisions that concern them. The study analysed 20 Spanish laws, both national and autonomous, that regulate child protection and the rights of CA in the protection system. It focuses on examining the participation of children in the protection system, divided into its three dimensions: the right to be informed, the right to be heard and the right to be involved. There is complexity in the different regulations. All of them are consistent with the CRC and provide for participation, but not all to the same extent. There is a lack of harmonisation between the legislation of autonomous communities, leading to practical difficulties for the professionals who have to implement the legislation on a daily basis.

Keywords: participation; child protection system; policy documents; children’s right; children’s perspectives; child centrism; child and family welfare (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/7/268/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/7/268/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:10:y:2021:i:7:p:268-:d:594544

Access Statistics for this article

Social Sciences is currently edited by Ms. Yvonne Chu

More articles in Social Sciences from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().