The WSU Humanities Center invites faculty, students, staff, and the community to a Research Seminar given by Jocie Osika (PhD Candidate, Anthropology) on the topic of, "Participation Without Rights: Foster Child Participation as Evidence, Juvenile, and Stakeholder in American Child Welfare Court".

Abstract: 

Much of the research on children’s participation in child welfare case proceedings takes place in relation to children’s right to participate. This right was solidified under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and its subsequent ratification in 99.5% of the participating countries. But what does child participation in child welfare look like where children do not have the right to participate, and what can participation in this context reveal in broader conversations about child welfare, child participation, and children’s rights? This research qualitatively examines five cases of foster child participation in court proceedings related to their child welfare cases in the United States, the one country that did not ratify the UNCRC and put children’s rights into law. Observation of 34 child welfare court proceedings (approximately 40 hours) yielded only 6 sessions across five cases which involved a total of five child participants. Frame analysis revealed three main roles American children fulfil when participating in child welfare court proceedings: the evidence role, the juvenile role, and the stakeholder role. Interpretation of children’s performance of these roles suggests that framing plays an important role in participant coping and that children are not hurt by their participation.