Professional Practice in Rights-Based Foster Care, and the Child's Right to Participate

This chapter will explore the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the child’s right to express itself throughout administrative and judicial proceedings (cf. CRC Art. 12) during foster care placements. It will be argued that as foster care services constitute a series of administrative proceedings, and where a child’s entry and exit from foster care involves judicial proceedings, a claim on having rights-based foster care services would call for the involvement of the child along the entire course of out-of-home placements in foster care. Furthermore, understanding how Art. 12 works throughout foster care practices will be argued as a key for child protection service and foster care service to claim that their practices are aligned with their duty to uphold the child’s rights.