This article presents an in-depth analysis of children and young people's engagement in Terre des Hommes Netherlands (TdH NL) influencing work over the past 10 years. It underscores the importance of integrating children's voices into decision-making processes to ensure systemic change and the sustainable protection of children's rights.

This study explores how caseworkers in Australia’s out-of-home care system balance children’s right to participate in decisions with concerns about risk and trauma. Findings show that while participation is valued, caseworkers often limit or delay it due to fears of destabilizing placements or harming children’s wellbeing, highlighting the need for more reflexive approaches to strengthen participatory practice.

A randomized controlled trial examined the effectiveness of a peer grief support program for youth in foster care, an underrepresented population who experience disenfranchised grief.

This study reanalyzes interviews with 20 children in Ireland to explore their perspectives on participation in child protection processes involving their families. Findings show that while children often shared adult concerns, they viewed participation differently—particularly regarding risk, safety, stigma, and the need for ongoing dialogue—highlighting the importance of more child-centred approaches in practice.

Vlad is a 13-year-old child rights advocate in the Republic of Moldova. Speaking at a United Nations Human Rights Council's debate on the rights of the child on 13 March 2025, he stressed the importance of investing in early childhood development. "The earlier we act, the more chances we give the child to develop harmoniously," he said.

This study explored the experiences of 14 adolescents living in a ci'aiyuan childcare institution in Xiangxi, China, finding that it sometimes fostered supportive relationships, enhanced perceived social support, and facilitated positive life changes. While these accounts challenge dominant negative views of institutional care, the study emphasizes the need to address ongoing complexities and challenges in such settings.

In Ukraine, for the first time, individuals who have experienced institutional care, as well as those who have experience with family-based care, have united and agreed upon a common position regarding the reform of the child care and support system, including the development of programs to support orphaned children and children deprived of parental care.

Practitioners explain the core value of children's right to participate in the process of transitioning. 

This Resource List catalogues critical resources to guide ethical good practices in participatory research with children in humanitarian contexts. It is not an exhaustive compilation, nor does it propose new ethical guidelines. Instead, it highlights existing tools that help researchers and practitioners understand, utilise, and apply well-established ethical principles. 

This paper considers attempts to influence practice and policy from the perspectives of 15 care experienced people who had been involved in substantive public campaign work relating to children in state care and care leavers in Scotland and England. Participants shared their experiences of working to influence change and highlighted good and bad practice that they had encountered working with different individuals and organisations claiming to promote the views of those with lived experience.