Youth engagement and participation in a child and youth care context

Youth participation and engagement were examined and reviewed using three core Child and Youth Care (CYC) contexts: engagement, relationships and self. It was found that meaningful youth participation occurred when a tangible change process followed young people’s engagement with adults. Different t...

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Main Authors: Lindsay Sinclair, Melissa Vieira, Vanessa Zufelt
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: CELCIS 2019-04-01
Series:Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care
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author Lindsay Sinclair
Melissa Vieira
Vanessa Zufelt
author_facet Lindsay Sinclair
Melissa Vieira
Vanessa Zufelt
author_sort Lindsay Sinclair
collection DOAJ
description Youth participation and engagement were examined and reviewed using three core Child and Youth Care (CYC) contexts: engagement, relationships and self. It was found that meaningful youth participation occurred when a tangible change process followed young people’s engagement with adults. Different types of youth participation were reviewed. The research revealed several barriers to meaningful youth engagement, such as tokenism, social power imbalances, and biases on the part of both the young people and the practitioners. Young people in care, in particular, face barriers to youth engagement. Positive youth engagement is achieved when young people are seen as experts in their own lives and are engaged as primary stakeholders in their own plan-of-care meetings. This process can be augmented by the presence of youth engagement facilitators, which CYC practitioners are ideally suited to be. Critical self-reflection can help practitioners become aware of their own definitions of and biases towards youth engagement. Given that there is no one agreed upon definition of youth engagement, it differs between individuals and organisations. Youth are often engaged following the completion of a programme. Scholars purport that youth should be engaged in the planning, creation and final evaluation stages of programme administration.
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series Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care
spelling doaj-art-72af5ea554c9422ab503bea2b73289592025-08-20T02:37:46ZengCELCISScottish Journal of Residential Child Care2976-93532019-04-01181294710.17868/strath.00084407Youth engagement and participation in a child and youth care contextLindsay SinclairMelissa VieiraVanessa ZufeltYouth participation and engagement were examined and reviewed using three core Child and Youth Care (CYC) contexts: engagement, relationships and self. It was found that meaningful youth participation occurred when a tangible change process followed young people’s engagement with adults. Different types of youth participation were reviewed. The research revealed several barriers to meaningful youth engagement, such as tokenism, social power imbalances, and biases on the part of both the young people and the practitioners. Young people in care, in particular, face barriers to youth engagement. Positive youth engagement is achieved when young people are seen as experts in their own lives and are engaged as primary stakeholders in their own plan-of-care meetings. This process can be augmented by the presence of youth engagement facilitators, which CYC practitioners are ideally suited to be. Critical self-reflection can help practitioners become aware of their own definitions of and biases towards youth engagement. Given that there is no one agreed upon definition of youth engagement, it differs between individuals and organisations. Youth are often engaged following the completion of a programme. Scholars purport that youth should be engaged in the planning, creation and final evaluation stages of programme administration.childyouthparticipationengagement
spellingShingle Lindsay Sinclair
Melissa Vieira
Vanessa Zufelt
Youth engagement and participation in a child and youth care context
Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care
child
youth
participation
engagement
title Youth engagement and participation in a child and youth care context
title_full Youth engagement and participation in a child and youth care context
title_fullStr Youth engagement and participation in a child and youth care context
title_full_unstemmed Youth engagement and participation in a child and youth care context
title_short Youth engagement and participation in a child and youth care context
title_sort youth engagement and participation in a child and youth care context
topic child
youth
participation
engagement
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AT melissavieira youthengagementandparticipationinachildandyouthcarecontext
AT vanessazufelt youthengagementandparticipationinachildandyouthcarecontext