ABSTRACT
Children involved with human services are within converging networks of regulation—family and state institutions. Families may experience the state intervention as an unjust intrusion into their lives. To shield children from the resulting friction, families and agencies often make decisions with little input from their young charges. Conversely, the friction may spark dialogue in which children express their hopes, and together families and agencies generate plans guided by collective hope. A potential mechanism for including children in collaborative planning are family meetings. This chapter considers the extent of child inclusion in family meetings within a US state, based on two surveys: the first with interdisciplinary advisory bodies responsible for recommending systemic change in public child welfare and the second with professionals from different agencies working with individual children and families. The conclusions emphasize that participatory practice models require reinforcement from intersecting family and state networks of support and accountability.
