ABSTRACT

This paper examines the perspectives of child protection workers (CPWs) (n = 106) on the participation of children in child protection practice in Estonia. The findings indicated that child participation was most related to the term “asking a child’s opinion.” On a theoretical level, CPWs considered the asking of a child’s opinion to be significant in child protection practice in order to make decisions in the child’s best interests. In practice, however, asking a child’s opinion was acknowledged to be dependent on the level of development and age of the child, whether there were any custody disputes, and time factors. The reflections of CPWs indicate a protectionist approach regarding child participation because they discussed the issue of children being vulnerable and how encouraging them to participate might be detrimental to their well-being.

摘要

本文探讨了儿童保护工作者的观点（n= 106）关于儿童参与爱沙尼亚儿童保护实践的信息。调查结果表明，儿童参与与“征求儿童意见”一词最相关。从理论上讲，CPW认为在保护儿童的实践中，要求儿童发表意见很重要，以便做出符合儿童最大利益的决定。但实际上，承认孩子的意见取决于孩子的成长水平和年龄，是否有监护权争执以及时间因素。CPW的思考表明了对儿童参与的保护主义态度，因为他们讨论了儿童易受伤害的问题，以及如何鼓励他们参与可能对他们的福祉有害。