Looked After Care: Young People’s Views of Making Decisions in Review and Planning Meetings

Children and young people’s right to participate in the decisions made about them is enshrined in national and international Acts and Charters: the Children Act 1989 and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1999. This right takes on particular importance for Looked After Children and Young People, a frequently excluded group, as it concerns major decisions about their lives. This study sought to explore the views of 10 young people between the ages of 16 and 19 in looked after care on decision making in review and planning meetings. A critical realist grounded theory was deemed to be the most appropriate methodology for the research, partly because it allowed interviews and research directions to be led by the participants.

Interviews and analyses yielded interesting and novel results but also reflected many themes that have been found in previous research. The core category generated by the research was the ongoing process of Pushing and Decision Making. The main categories that comprise that core category were: Becoming Active and Involved, Wanting more than just ‘Good Enough’, Making Oneself Heard and Coming of Age in the Care System. The core and four main categories are discussed with reference to other research into participation and decision making, and in terms of the young people getting their needs met within the context of the care system and corporate parenting.