A socio-legal case study of advocacy and non-advocacy mechanisms established to support the participation of children and young people in non-judicial decision-making processes in Moray.

Grieve, Linda Rochelle

Abstract

The practice of researching children and young people's participation can be an attractive proposition for multiple disciplines within the humanities and is often buttressed by reference to the substantive articles in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Many studies may also be premised on children and childhood participation, measured against theoretical concepts such as agency and autonomy and manifestations of those in praxis. Very often, the reviews of procedures are mechanical, because the question or questions posited are restrictive; they often neglect to interrogate the merits of the actual procedure in its accommodation of the participant child or young person. In a judicial decision making process, an individual speaking on behalf of a child or young person will have 'rights of audience' and associated 'magistral duties', such as a legal advocate or a safeguarder - the former professionally qualified for the post and the latter appointed. The same cannot always be said of the mechanisms and the role holders employed in non-judicial decision making processes, such as non-legal advocates and other support workers. The objective of this study is to test whether non-judicial decision making processes, and the employment of non-legal advocacy and other identified support mechanisms in those processes, affect the marginalisation of children and young people in a context in which participation is arguably constrained by rules, norms and standards (both legal and otherwise). There are two areas of focus: firstly, a critique of identified non-legal advocacy and other support mechanisms; secondly, a critique of identified non-judicial processes. In order to answer the research question, it has been broken down into two linked parts. The first part is an examination of the theoretical concepts of the child, childhood and participatory rights (including advocacy), against a backdrop of applicable treaty, law and policy. The second part of the thesis concentrates on the realpolitik of the foregoing, as informed by empirical field- and desk-based data and analysis.

Citation

GRIEVE, L.R. 2019. A socio-legal case study of advocacy and non-advocacy mechanisms established to support the participation of children and young people in non-judicial decision-making processes in Moray. Robert Gordon University [online], PhD thesis. Available from: https://openair.rgu.ac.uk

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Jan 27, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 27, 2020
• Keywords: Children's rights; Young people's rights; Marginalisation of children and young people; Decision-making processes
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/841210
• Award Date: Aug 31, 2019