Children’s Rights in Practice SIG

Aims of SIG

Children’s rights exist at the contested nexus between research, practice, theory, policy, and legislation. Within this nexus professionals are entrusted with fulfilling their legal, moral, and practical obligations of ensuring children’s rights are enacted and in line with the UN Sustainable Goals. However, in enacting their obligations, professionals are confronted with a myriad of different practical, legal, ethical, theoretical, and philosophical challenges.

The general aim of the SIG therefore is to provide a forum to bring together international scholars, policy makers, research students, managers, and practitioners interested in issues related to children’s rights in practice across various organizations (public and non-governmental) to examine these challenges and produce research led solutions. In addition, the SIG will explore the possible ways of applying children's rights across a range of practice settings e.g., in child protection, social services, kindergarten, local communities, school, health services and leisure with a particular focus given to those children that are at risk of abuse. 

Objectives of SIG

1. To meet with an international network of researchers to share project results, research experiences, literature and to cooperate in the planning of new projects and meetings.
2. Develop innovative and creative participatory approaches to researching children’s rights in social work.
3. Give members an opportunity to connect, collaborate and develop their research capacity and knowledge base in all aspects of children’s rights in social work.
4. Explore ideas, and collectively contribute to promoting the rights of children across Europe and beyond.
5. To bring together social work as well as other disciplinary researchers, academics, policy makers, and practitioners with different backgrounds to discuss and debate children’s rights within the research and practice environment to further expand and deepen practical and theoretical developments in the field.
6. Develop ideas about ongoing mutual support for doctoral students and early career researchers across the whole of Europe in relation to how children’s rights are enacted in social work practice across a range of settings.
7. Provide a positive forum to create networks, taking forward knowledge production and knowledge transfer around the SIG.
8. Facilitate collaboration in presentations, publications, and teaching materials.

Scope of SIG

The SIG’s scope will focus on and critically examine policy, practice, and theoretical developments within the field of children’s rights in social work. Specifically, this includes all aspects related to children’s rights within social work practice, i.e., child welfare, work with families, social services, juvenile justice, education, health, policy making, pedagogy and the law. Consequently, the SIG will incorporate and explore within its scope research undertaken by various disciplines that are engaged in working with children and young people, as well as examining methodological developments used to explore children’s rights. In line with the goals of ESWRA, we therefore offer an opportunity to engage in and promote cross-national, multi-disciplinary research, as well as engage in scholarly debates and knowledge exchange among the various research and practice-based interested stakeholders related to children’s rights in social work practice.

So, in line with the goals of ESWRA, this interdisciplinary SIG will emphasize the ongoing interconnection of developments in social work as it relates to children’s rights, across national boundaries in Europe and beyond. This transnational perspective places special emphasis on the flows and translation of knowledge, practices, theories, and policies influencing children’s rights in countries across the globe. These translations reflect that social work as it relates to children’s rights is an important field of social development that is located in a contested space, with numerous actors, contrasting interests, and power differentials that are interpreted in various ways. Our group considers itself as an open forum for these diverging ideas and debates which will hopefully advance our critical understanding of children’s rights and the application of children’s rights in social work practice, academia, and research. This will help further social work’s capacity to respond aptly to the modern practical and theoretical challenges of ensuring children’s rights are suitably recognised and enacted by all state actors

DOWNLOAD CALL FOR ABSTRACTS ECSWR 2023 - SIG EVENT

Convenor

Dr. Paul McCafferty, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

p.mccafferty@qub.ac.uk

Roles/responsibilities within SIG

Deputy-convenor including Lead for organising SIG Symposium

Dr. Esther Mercado, Department of Social Work & Social Services, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain.

Email emercado@ucm.es

Associate convener for symposium

Dr. María Begoña Leyra Fatou, Department of Social Work & Social Services, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain

Email: mbleyra@ucm.es

Associate convener for symposium

Dr. Linda Vannina Ducca Cisneros Department of Social, Work & Social Services, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain.

Email: lducca@ucm.es 

Lead for organising SIG Pre-Conference Event

Dr. Inger Sofie Dahlø Husby, Department of Social Work, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway

Email: inger.s.husby@ntnu.no

Associate convener for Pre-Conference Event

Dr. Randi Juul, Department of Social Work, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU),Norway.

Email: randi.juul@ntnu.no

Associate convener for Pre-Conference Event

Dr./professor in social work Hilde Marie Thrana, Department of Social Work, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway.

Email: hilde.m.thrana@ntnu.noDr.

Lead for Communications

Wendy Eerdekens, Department of Social Work, Artevelde University College VZW
Hoogpoort 15, Gent, Belgium

Email wendy.eerdekens@arteveldehs.be

Associate Lead for Communications

Eva Heirbaut, Department of Social Work, Artevelde University College VZW
Hoogpoort 15, Gent, Belgium

Email: eva.heirbaut@arteveldehs.be