Space, Voice, Audience and Influence: The Lundy Model of Participation (2007) in Child Welfare Practice

According to Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, children and young people have a legal right to have their views heard and acted upon as appropriate. The Lundy model of participation (2007) was developed to aid practitioners to meaningfully and effectively implement a child’s right to participate by focusing attention on the distinct but interrelated elements of Article 12. While Lundy’s conceptualisation has been widely welcomed in research, policy and practice, there is a dearth of examples in the literature regarding how the concepts of space, voice, audience and influence can be operationalised. The purpose of this article is to share examples of how practitioners working in Ireland’s child protection and welfare services implement these concepts in practice. Drawing on practitioners’ personal testimonies and a selection of reports published by Ireland’s social care inspectorate, it sets out illustrative examples of approaches taken by professionals when seeking to create a safe and inclusive space for children and young people to express a view, approaches to supporting them to express that view and to ensuring it is listened to and acted upon as appropriate.