Child panels

In Me & My Foster Family children aged 10-13 years who are placed in out-of-home care have participated in a series of child panels. The aim was to elicit their voices and opinions on what it's like to be a child in care. The aim was also to collaborate with them to create various products to be used to influence social work by presenting them to social worker students and practitioners.

The children shared their experiences of having a visit from a social worker. Typically, children placed in out-of-home care are interviewed by their social workers as a part of the social worker's half-yearly statutory meetings. These interviews are of great significance to the children, which is why several of the products revolve around these conversations.

Each child panel consisted of 4-6 children who met on three Saturdays or Sundays. We facilitated the child panels in a way that suited the children's age and abilities. We arranged the panels with lots of games, sweets, movement, creative materials, time to get to know one another and playful ways to exchange perspectives. In line with the findings from other studies, children in our child panels expressed joy in meeting other children experiencing similar challenges in life.

In collaboration with the research team, child panel participants have developed various products related to their meetings with social workers. The products can be accessed here as well as under publications.

The children expressed a desire to create stop-motion films. We helped them make two such films, which you can watch here.

Stop-motion film about a positive encounter with the social worker:

Stop-motion film about a negative encounter with the social worker:

In addition to producing stop-motion films, the children's views and thoughts have also been used to create two speed-drawing videos. One about foster children's right to privacy and one concerning the use of child panels.

Speed-drawing video about foster children's right to privacy:

Speed-drawing video about the use and implementation of child panels: