ABSTRACT
In the early chapters of this volume, we examined two of the main ways in which children's issues are currently debated, that is, in terms of rights and needs. A further type of discourse about childhood has become prominent in recent years, namely that of 'risk'. The previous chapter reviewed the example of children seen as putting social order at risk: here we consider risks faced by children themselves. The perspective shifts from children seen as threats to children as actual or potential victims, requiring vigilance and protection by adults. As we shall see, preoccupation with children's 'passive' right to protection by society has dominated child welfare policy and practice, sometimes overriding attention to children's active rights to influence the manner in which protection is undertaken. In a memorable phrase, the Cleveland Report (Butler-Sloss 1988) on public interventions with respect to child sexual abuse spoke of children being treated as 'objects of concern' rather than as active participants.
