Umeå University's logo

umu.sePublications
System disruptions
There are recurring service disruptions on some of the search portals due to high traffic. We are working to resolve the issue, you may temporarily encounter an error message.
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Realizing child participation in complex collaborative systems: the case of health, learning and safety teams
Umeå University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Global Health. Research & Development (R&D) Social Services, Region Västerbotten, Umeå, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0009-0009-5118-8799
Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Social Work.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-5269-1961
Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Social Work. Research & Development (R&D) Social Services, Region Västerbotten, Umeå, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-3713-5457
Umeå University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Global Health.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-8944-2558
Show others and affiliations
2026 (English)In: Child & Family Social Work, ISSN 1356-7500, E-ISSN 1365-2206Article in journal (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]

Child participation is a statutory right in Sweden and central to child welfare practice, yet its realizations in multisectoral settings remain challenging. This study examines how professionals working in Health, Learning and Safety (HLS) teams in Västerbotten, Sweden, perceive and seek to facilitate children's participation. Semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted with 44 professionals from nine teams, representing health care, schools, and social services. Data were analysed inductively using conventional content analysis. Findings show that while professionals described HLS as fundamentally child centred, children were rarely present in the meetings. Children's perspectives were predominantly mediated through adults' interpretations rather than expressed through children's direct presence in meetings. Professionals highlighted tensions between safeguarding responsibilities and facilitating participation, alongside uncertainty about children's capacities and limited routines for involvement and influence. The absence of shared definitions and formalized procedures contributed to variation across teams, and collaboration itself frequently took precedence over children's participation. The study concludes that children's participation in HLS is best understood as a negotiated and conditional practice shaped by organizational complexity and professional attitudes, rather than a straightforward right. Realizing children's legal right to participation requires structural support, shared frameworks and dedicated space for ongoing professional reflection.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
John Wiley & Sons, 2026.
Keywords [en]
child participation, implementation, multisectoral collaboration
National Category
Social Work
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-258055DOI: 10.1111/cfs.70263ISI: 001851499100001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105047585706OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-258055DiVA, id: diva2:2096963
Funder
Forte, Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and WelfareAvailable from: 2026-08-31 Created: 2026-08-31 Last updated: 2026-08-31

Open Access in DiVA

fulltext(475 kB)25 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT01.pdfFile size 475 kBChecksum SHA-512
7b5a689ee86cad9a36a483abd4d3eda731309df938a947b5a2d888078e3d846995542d702fe5ece41b2258ab7a419f66083966321c1cafc86404e4a8930c2a25
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

Other links

Publisher's full textScopus

Authority records

Örnberg, DanielHjelte, JanHöög, ElisabetIvarsson, AnneliWesterlund, Anna

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Örnberg, DanielHjelte, JanHöög, ElisabetIvarsson, AnneliWesterlund, Anna
By organisation
Department of Epidemiology and Global HealthDepartment of Social Work
In the same journal
Child & Family Social Work
Social Work

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 315 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf