Elizabeth Clarke

1. Research for Practice with Children and Families
SWK4514
By: Elizabeth Clarke BSW, MSW,RSW

2. About me...

3. W E L C O M E T O
T O D AY ' S C L A S S !
T O D AY ' S A G E N D A
Importance of research and evaluation in Social Work
Societal perception of children and youth
Advantages of participatory research and evaluation
The importance of including the voice of children and
youth
Maintaining the protection of children and youth
Creating child/youth - adult partnerships
Disadvantages of participatory research and
evaluation
Understanding diversity in research and evaluation
H E
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4. Advantages of
participatory research
and evaluation.
Disadvantages of
participatory research
and evaluation.
The importance of
bringing the voice of
children and youth in our
work.
L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S

5. Best practices for engaging children
and youth in adult partnerships.
Develop a deeper understanding of
diversity when working with
children and youth.

6. • Provides powerful knowledge and insight.
• Supports the development of policies, programs,
services, treatment interventions, etc.
• Evaluates social work practice effectiveness.
• inform and improve an initiatives
effectiveness.
• Considers value, significance, quality, worth
and/or merit.
• Advises decision-making, judgements,
development, capacity building, etc.

7. Researchers working with children
have generally focused their research
on children, rather than planning and
carrying out research in partnership
with children and young people.
John Wilkinson
Save the Children, 2000

8. • Inexperienced.
• Irresponsible.
• Immature.
• Incapable.
• Nuisance.
• A resources.
S O C I E TA L P E R C E P T I O N O F C H I L D R E N A N D Y O U T H
John Wilkinson
Save the Children, 2000

9. • Honouring the Rights of the Child – The UN Convention
of the Rights of the child.
• Young people are experts in their owns lives.
• Empowering.
• Skill development.
• Leadership and decision-making.
• Build diverse social network.
• Children identify their own indicators of success.
Advantages of participatory
research and evaluation

10. • It gives better knowledge of their point of view and
priorities.
• It tells what works, what doesn’t and what can be
improved/done differently.
• It can spark creativity in everyone involved.
• It can provide information evaluators wouldn’t receive
otherwise.
• It allows the collection of accurate information.
• It demonstrates initiatives impact.
• It improves the organization, community and
research/evaluation process.
Advantages of participatory
research and evaluation cont’d

11. The Act requires that any person
making a decision under Ontario
legislation affecting children must
apply Katelynn's Principle when
making the decision.
Katelynn's Principle
Jordan's Principle makes sure all
First Nations children living in
Canada can access the products,
services and supports they need,
when they need them.
Jordan's Principle
The importance of including the voice of Children and Youth

12. Informed consent.
Confidentiality and trust.
Strength based approach.
Clarity – Clearly defined roles and responsibilities.
Best interest of the child or young person and Do No Harm.
Maintaining the protection of the children and youth

13. • Create a safe and supportive space.
• Use accessible language.
• Authentically recognize expertise (i.e. Skills, experiences
and perspectives).
• Provide mentorship and guidance for effective
participation.
• Show warmth, empathy, and genuineness.
• Recognize and equalize power imbalances whenever
possible.
• Pre-brief, debrief and follow-up.
• Make it fun (i.e. Icebreakers, audio, visual presentations,
drawing boards, etc.).
Creating Child/Youth – Adult
Partnerships

16. • Organizational readiness - Existing Structures and
Norms.
• Must build and maintain trust with participants and larger
community.
• Lengthy research and evaluation process (i.e. Training,
development, debriefs, scheduling, etc.).
• Obtain buy-in and commitment from children and youth.
• Creatively adapting research and evaluation process.
• Research or evaluation is time sensitive.
• Funders and policy do agree with participatory research and
evaluation.
Disadvantages of participatory
research and evaluation

17. U N D E R S TA N D I N G D I V E R S I T Y I N R E S E A R C H A N D E VA L U AT I O N
• Race, ethnic origins, culture, developmental ability, socio-
economic status, gender, sexuality, culture, life-
experience, abilities, disabilities, etc.
• Ask question and observe who isn’t being served within
initiative/program.
• Anticipate barriers to participation and remove them.
• Understanding mistrust in research and evaluation process
• Development of community partnership
• Representation for those who voices may not be heard
• Accessibility
• Honorarium (i.e. gift cards, money, goods and services, etc.)

18. • 1 year Mentorship program for Black/African-Caribbean-Canadian Youth.
• Online Mentorship Program.
• Program aims to support Black youth in care of the Children Aid’s Society of Toronto.
• My participation as researcher (Practicum student) and evaluation service user (Mentor) to
support youth.
• Youth engagement – Cory Joseph and Nathaniel Mitchell
• Devote time to build a relationship with mentee
• Connect with mentee at least once a month
• Consent forms, questionaries, virtual group meetings, etc.

19. Involving children and young people
in research advisory roles

20. Young people have voices, but it’s
about giving them the opportunity
to be heard.

21. Citations
Diem, K. (2015). Best Practices for Engaging Youth as Partners in Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Sustainable Development
Efforts. Indian Journal of Sustainable Development 1(2). DOI: 10.21863/ijsd/2015.1.2.011
Government of Canada. (2021, March 5). Jordan’s Principle. Canada. https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1568396042341/1568396159824
Hawke, L. D., Relihan, J. Miller, J.., McCann, E. Rong, J., Darnay K., Docherty, S. Chaim,G. Henderson, J. L. (2018). Engaging youth in
research planning. Design, and execution: Practical recommendations for researchers. Health Expectations 21(6), 944-949.
https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.12795
Legislative Assembly of Ontario. (2021, March 5). Bill 57, Katelynn’s Principle Act (Decisions Affecting Children), 2016. Ontario
Legislative Assembly. https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-41/session-2/bill-57
UNICEF (2005). Useful Tools for Engaging Young People in Participatory Evaluation. UNICEF CEE/CIS Regional Office. Retrieved
from http://issuu.com/learneasy/docs/tools-for-participatory-evaluation
Wilkinson. J. (2021, March 5). Children and Participation: Research, monitoring and evaluation with children and young people.
Participatory methods.
https://www.participatorymethods.org/sites/participatorymethods.org/files/children%20and%20participation_wilkinson.pdf