The families’ participation in decision-making process in the child-protection system, as an implementation of Restorative Justice
The current study investigates the relationship between the involvement of the families in the child protection system, and the principles, the practices, and the philosophy of Restorative Justice. More specifically, we research the ways the participants perceive the child protection system regarding its policies and institutions. Another field of study are the needs for the involvement of the children and the families regarding the measures that are to be taken, as well as previous experiences of the participants on expressing opinion and being involved in the decision-making regarding child protection. Furthermore, we went into the ways that Restorative Justice could be implemented in this field, and factors that prevent the inclusion of children and families in the decision making process. Finally, the participants expressed their ideas for the development of service user involvement.
To research the above we chose the qualitative methodology. 30 semi-structured interviews will take place with people that have been involved in the child protection system as adolescents, as parents, and as professionals (10 interviews with each subgroup – equal gender representation). For the data processing and analysis, content analysis was chosen as most adequate.
Key – words: service user involvement ; child protection ; Restorative Justice ; social welfare
Ιωακειμίδης Βασίλειος, επιβλέπων (Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Κοινωνικής Εργασίας, Πανεπιστήμιο Δυτικής Αττικής)
Πουλόπουλος Χαράλαμπος (Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Κοινωνικής Εργασίας, Δημοκρίτειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θράκης)
Θεμελή Όλγα (Αν.Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Ψυχολογίας, Πανεπιστήμιο Κρήτης)
