The Participatory Evaluation of Children in Child Welfare Case Study: The County of Iasi, Romania

Child welfare and child protection policies are key discursive areas in charge of organizing childhood and the relationships between adults and children. In carrying out these practices, the practitioners (social workers, psychologists or physiotherapists) act as mediators between the state, children and their families. In this capacity, practitioners are strategic agents who strengthen and legitimize, through commitment to the individual cases of children they work with, the ways of defining childhood, as well as the desirable patterns for the relationship between parents and children, but also between professionals and families. In this context it is important to explore the extent to which the child, as a beneficiary of protection services, participates as an actor in the standardized assessment procedures and in the decision-making process concerning his or her situation.