Recognition or Misrecognition? The Role of Authorised Clinicians in Facilitating Child Participation in New South Wales Care and Protection Matters

Abstract

This study examines how children’s right to participation are facilitated within New South Wales (NSW) care and protection proceedings under Section 10 of the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998. Under the Act, the NSW Children’s Court may appoint authorised clinicians to conduct comprehensive clinical assessments of children and their caregivers. These assessments typically address the child's views, wishes, preferences, developmental capacity, psychosocial needs, and relationships with their caregivers. In this context, clinician reports provide an important channel through which children's views are communicated to the court. Despite this, little empirical research has explored how clinicians engage children in such assessments. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research analysed 13 clinician interviews (2020) and 70 court-submitted reports (2017–2020). Guided by Nancy Fraser’s theory of justice and Axel Honneth’s theory of recognition, the study critically examined respect for and recognition of children’s participatory rights. Findings indicate that clinicians’ facilitation of participation was shaped by children’s characteristics (age, verbal ability, capacity), clinicians’ perceptions about children’s vulnerabilities and risk of harm concerns, and clinicians’ professional orientations (paternalistic, protective, or partnership-based). The findings revealed that clinicians’ perceptions of children’s capacity and their attitudes toward the value of child participation strongly shaped the extent to which participatory principles were implemented in assessment processes.This research contributes to the limited empirical literature on child participation relevant to care proceedings and sheds light on the nuanced ways in which clinicians balanced protecting children whilst demonstrating recognition and respect of children's right to participation within NSW care and protection assessments.