ABSTRACT
Arlene Manoharan traces her journey in child-centred social work (CSW) over three decades, working at the grass roots with children in street situations; subsequently striving to mainstream child rights into academia, facilitating growth of a trend-setting child resource centre, and currently working as an independent child protection specialist. Using vignettes from her forensic social work practice, she describes how her interdisciplinary work as a researcher, author, trainer, educator, and advocate for children’s rights, contributed to the child rights arena including strengthening of the child protection system. She provides glimpses into a range of extraordinary experiences of engagement with child-related policy and law, working with the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary at the highest levels in India; with the Supreme Court and High Court Committees on Juvenile Justice; with human rights institutions for children; and with international treaty bodies too. She reflects on the remarkable synergy between restorative practice and social work, highlighting its promising potential for bolstering child-centred social work education and practice. Her work on child rights, child protection, juvenile justice, and restorative justice, provides rich fodder for social work educators, practitioners, and students.
