The Paradox of Children's Participation in Child Protection: A Study of Juridification and Discretion in the Norwegian County Welfare Boards

In the context of increasing juridification in the welfare sector, this paper examines the gap between the legal principle of children's participation and its practical implementation in the Norwegian child protection system. Despite the unequivocal right to participate enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Norwegian Constitution § 104, and domestic laws (child protection act §1-4), reports from children and research consistently show a lack of meaningful and sufficient involvement in matters affecting them (see NOU 2023:7, ch. 4?). Why is this so? Our study focuses on the tension between juridification and professional discretion in realizing children's participation. We argue that while the right to participate represents a form of juridification, its implementation relies heavily on the discretion of welfare professionals. This interplay raises critical questions about how welfare systems in general navigate between legal requirements and professional judgment in practice, and in particular how courts and County Welfare Boards tackle this interplay. Our research focus on the interpretation and implementation of children´s right to participate, and the factors that influence the gap between the principle of participation and its realization. Specifically, we examine if check lists improve children´s participation in child protection decision making. To address this question, we present findings from a controlled trial of checklists for child participation with decision-makers in county welfare boards in Norway. Simply put, checklists are a list of tasks or items to be carried out or checked. The idea behind checklists is to ensure that all necessary tasks are carried out correctly and in the correct order and in that way reduce tendencies to avoid, omit or neglect important elements, in our case, in realizing children’s participation. Our empirical material allows us to examine how formalized procedures (representing a form of juridification) interact with professional discretion in facilitating children's participation. This study contributes to the broader debate on juridification in courts and the welfare sector by illuminating the challenges of implementing rights-based approaches in systems traditionally grounded in professional expertise. We argue that realizing children's participation requires not only clear legal mandates but also an adjustment of professional practices and institutional structures to change the decision making and discretionary practice. Check lists may be a tool to create such institutional frameworks that support professionals in navigating between legal requirements and their professional judgment to facilitate meaningful participation of children in the child protection system.