This article discusses a key meeting for children in care – the Child in Care Review – and examines the extent to which children and young people are able to participate and exert a level of control over their lives. The research, conducted in England, formed part of a wider exploration of the views and experiences of all those involved in such reviews, namely Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs), social workers, senior managers and – the focus of this article – the young people concerned. Most of the children interviewed said that they found their reviews frustrating and stressful, often attributing this to poor relationships with social workers and scepticism about the value of the review process. However, they recognised the workload pressures facing social workers and the bureaucratic constraints affecting the service they received. The article argues for the continuing importance of the IRO role, given the consistency it provides for children in care. It also shows that while it provides an opportunity for children’s participation in discussions about their future, the Child in Care Review is underperforming. The developing practice of children chairing their own reviews offers one way forward and the article calls for this to be developed and for other creative methods to be introduced to enable young people to play a meaningful part in meetings that affect them.

中文翻译：

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“只是房间里的另一个人”：年轻人对参与托儿所评论的看法

本文讨论了一个针对受托儿所的重要会议——托儿所审查——并考察了儿童和年轻人能够参与并对其生活施加一定程度控制的程度。这项在英格兰进行的研究是对参与此类审查的所有人员的观点和经验的更广泛探索的一部分，即独立审查官 (IRO)、社会工作者、高级管理人员以及——本文的重点——年轻人担心的。大多数受访儿童表示，他们发现他们的评论令人沮丧和压力，通常将其归因于与社会工作者的不良关系以及对评论过程价值的怀疑。然而，他们认识到社会工作者面临的工作量压力以及影响他们获得服务的官僚主义限制。鉴于 IRO 为受照料儿童提供的一致性，文章认为 IRO 的作用仍然很重要。它还表明，虽然它为儿童参与有关他们未来的讨论提供了机会，但儿童护理审查表现不佳。儿童主持他们自己的评论的发展实践提供了一种前进的方式，文章呼吁发展这一点，并引入其他创造性的方法，使年轻人能够在影响他们的会议中发挥有意义的作用。