21 Jun Mónica López López and Floor Middel at ‘the International Conference on Decision-Making in Child and Adult Protection: Discretion and Dialogue’, Basel
Hestia team members Mónica López López and Floor Middel were invited to provide a presentation on the Hestia research project at the ‘International Conference on Decision-Making in Child and Adult Protection: Discretion and Dialogue’ held in Basel, 31 May – 2 June. The conference aimed to provide the opportunity to share and compare current research, theoretical perspectives and models, identify common research interests, and facilitate international collaborations in the field of decision-making research. The conference focused on two main topics: ‘discretion’ and ‘dialogue’ and targeted the following main questions:
- How do professionals use discretion, as a central element of professional practice, in judgment and decision-making?
- What constrains professionals’ discretion?
- How do factors like case specifics, personal characteristics, tools, teams, organizations, welfare systems, and further contextual factors interact and contribute to how professionals and (inter-professional) teams exercise discretion?
- How are clients involved and do participate in the decision-making?
- What is the effect of clients’ involvement on the decision and outcomes?
Mónica López López and Floor Middel provided a presentation on the ‘dialogue’ aspect, more specifically on children’s participation England, German, and Dutch child protection policy and practice. First, Mónica López López outlined policy regarding children’s participation in relation to Bouma’s model of meaningful participation. Floor Middel continued on children’s participation rates and outcomes in the three child protection systems.
