This article argues that universal documents on children's rights can provide illustrative examples as to how childhood is identified as a unity using difference as an instrument. Using Gille Deleuze's theorising on difference and sameness as a framework, the article seeks to relate the children's rights project with a critique of representation.…

Children are increasingly described as agents and agency is important to arguments for children's rights and participation. Yet agency is rarely defined or theorised in childhood studies. This article reviews common uses and meanings of agency and argues that critical, social conceptualisations have yet to be extensively taken up in childhood…

Children's right to play is formally enshrined in Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). However, few research studies have explored children's experiences of play from an explicit rights-based perspective. Using children's views to illustrate the multi-dimensional relationship Article 31 holds with other…

The aim of this article is to show how research practices may simultaneously follow principles of children's citizenship rights to participation and principles of protection and support when children exposed to violence are informants. The article focuses upon organisation of interview processes and interactions between adult researchers and child…

This article aims to contribute to the discussion about the ethics of research on children when studying sensitive issues such as violence. The empirical analysis is based on the accounts given by children (11 377) who completed a computer-based questionnaire about their experiences of violence ("The Finnish Child Victim Survey 2008")…

This paper discusses the impact of and close interplay between global discourses on children, notions of (a good) childhood at the national and local levels and childhoods as these are lived and experienced in particular social contexts. Two increasingly powerful global images of children are explored: Children as individual subjects with rights…

This paper considers dilemmas around "value" and the "valuing" of children and childhood(s) in schools. I argue that in neo-liberal contexts, processes of children's identity making become aligned with the idea of the corporate citizen--value and worth derived from the capacity to produce, excel, self-regulate as well as…

The policy of re-adoption for UK-citizen parents of intercountry adopted children is designed to protect children and safeguard their best interests, but in fact may breach a variety of rights and international Conventions, and when applied to specific cases can lead to more harm than good. In this review, I want to argue that the policy of…

The aim of this article is to open up a discussion about an unexplored area of children's lives at school. While there has been considerable discussion of issues about child protection and the cooperation between school and social services in that context, studies on the intersection between school and family law proceedings seem virtually…

This study examines the potential problems with the parental consent requirement, substantiated with examples mainly from healthcare and social research studies. This will illustrate how the parental consent requirement, instead of promoting high ethical standards, may result in some instances of children's rights and ethical considerations being…

Recent decades have seen growing enthusiasm internationally for the concept and practice of "child voice". This was encapsulated in, and stimulated, by Article 12 of the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This article presents the case for incorporating the equally important concept of "child silence" in both research and…

Since ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991, the UK Government has submitted three reports to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. This article explains the reporting process and provides an overview of the most recent recommendations from the Committee.

This paper explores the emotional aspects of participation within social welfare contexts. The focus is on individual professionals, such as social workers and children's rights workers and their articulation, management and negotiation of the emotional when working with children and young people. The institutions of welfare are also shown to be…

Researchers who involve children in their research are faced with the challenge of choosing between differing theoretical approaches which can prioritise children's autonomy rights or their "vulnerability" and their need to be protected. Somewhat confusingly, ethical guidelines seem to reflect a combination of these approaches. Even when…

This article investigates interventions in the gutter play of British working class children in the first decade of the 20th century through their re-location within Free Kindergartens. In contemporary literature, the street child was viewed through a binary lens, as both "at risk" and "as risk", reflecting wider societal…