In this article, we wish to contribute theoretically to the intersection between “listening to children” and “children’s participation”, by suggesting a phenomenological reflection on how to listen to the social world of the child. By using examples from some recent research interviews, in which children and youths recollect their lived experience of being involved in family law proceedings, our purpose is to show how phenomenological reflection can offer insights into the constitution of social relations in the world of the child. A phenomenological approach to listening seems to allow for complex and ambiguous experiences to be understood contextually. In particular, the relational, concrete aspect of being-heard or having-been-heard as a child-in-the-world is contrasted with adult conceptualizations of children’s right to participate.

I denna artikel vill vi bidra till den teoretiska diskussionen om att ”lyssna på barn” i relation till ”barns delaktighet” genom att föreslå en fenomenologisk reflektion kring att lyssna på barnets sociala värld. Genom att använda exempel från forskningsintervjuer med barn och unga som beskriver sin levda erfarenhet av att delta i familjerättsliga processer, är vårt syfte att visa hur en fenomenologisk reflektion kan möjliggöra en förståelse för vad som konstituerar sociala relationer i barnets värld. En fenomenologisk utgångspunkt i lyssnandet kan erbjuda en kontextuell förståelse av komplexa och mångtydiga erfarenheter. I synnerhet kontrasteras den relationella, konkreta aspekten av att bli hörd eller att ha blivit hörd som ett barn-i-världen mot den föreställning om barns rätt till delaktighet som finns i vuxenvärlden.

The social meaning of children’s participation in family law proceedings

Ever since the Convention of the Rights of the Child, we have seen a wide variety of interpre- tations on the meaning of “children’s participation.” A critical perspective, based on a social phenomenology, is here suggested to disclose the taken-for-grantedness implicit in both policy and theoretical accounts relating to the phenomenon of children’s participation. Within the situation of family law proceedings in Sweden, children’s participation will be explored in rela- tion to its intersubjective constitution in the social world and in the manifold of sub-worlds in which it appears. It is argued that a social phenomenological approach makes it possible to explicate what we mean by children’s participation in the context of policy within the situation of family law proceedings, and to thus open up for a way to approach this phenomenon based on critical reflection.

Children’s participation in assessing custody, residence and access Social work researchers have found custody, residence and access proceedings to be negligent regarding children’s participation and in considering their opinions. This study, with its phenomenological design, aimed at disclosing how children’s participation (as a phenomenon) appears in Swedish custody assessments as seen from the professional context of the social worker. The findings show that the meaning of children’s participation is constituted within a social context, i.e., as the background of the overall assessment and not based on a specific view in terms of outcome as expressed by the child. Three specific themes were discovered: 1) informing and respecting the child, 2) attempting to understand the child, and 3) integrating the perspective of the child within the overall assessment. The findings also suggest the necessity of clarifying concepts within the social work profession.