Gatekeeping

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Gatekeeping

• Jan Falloon
• University of Western Sydney

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A Challenge of child centred research

• Negotiating and engaging with large
• numbers of gatekeepers

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Who?

• Parents other carers
• Agencies
• Caseworkers
• Ethics committees
• Researchers
• Children and young people

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Attributes of the gated

• Barzilai-Nahon (2008) identifies four attributes
  of the 'gated'
• political power (their ability to set agendas or
  change their preferences),
• information production
• relationship with the gatekeeper
• and alternatives.

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Political power

• Conscious, unconscious or positively supporting
  the status quo
• Positioning of children
• Control of information, policy practice
• and decision making
• Those within the welfare system are in double
  jeopardy

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Relationship with gatekeepers

• gating of the gatekeepers
• Relationship with gatekeeper

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Ownership of information production

• Negotiated through adults
• Child-centred research included in but often
  not controlled by children
• Children as researchers ?

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Alternatives

• Childrens parliaments other information
  sharing or knowledge production fora
• Children as researchers?

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Why gatekeep?

• POWER
• Unequal power relationships
• Positioning of children young people
• Dichotomy - us and them

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PROTECTION

• VULNERABILITY
• Protection because of childrens perceived
  vulnerability
• Particularly relevant in the child welfare sector
  where the state frequently has stepped in to
  protect children as the ultimate authority
• Protection from having their views heard-gt
  further silencing

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• (IN)COMPETENCE
• Protection because of childrens perceived
  Incompetence
• Age related
• Protection of agencies/workers/parents
• competence
• Our competence as researchers?

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Best Interests

• Determined by whom?
• Concept underpins much child welfare work
• Many of us make our living from children

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Context/Functions

• Time constraints in busy schedules
• Competing priorities parents children agencies
• Systemic practice eg ethics committees

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How do we overcome these challenges?

• Broadly
• Advocating for the recognition of childrens
  agency
• Education around childrens competence
• Recognition of the rights of children to have a
  say

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• More specifically
• Consent to research
• - children young people to decide
• to participate in the first instance
• - homeless young people?
• -ongoing consent
• Working with/challenging ethics committees
• alternative ways of engaging with children

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• and
• Ensuring our research is relevant to those
  involved
• Improving our communication information
• Building partnerships with agencies workers
  collaborative research
• Action research

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• Dissemination of research findings refereed
  journals and more accessible publications/forums
  press etc
• Developing our own skills

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• We often try to protect children young
  people who are in the child welfare system but by
  not hearing their views by not ensuring their
  feelings and experiences are central to our
  policy and practice we run the risk of further
  harming them and those who follow

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