Going beyond dichotomous political discourses about children’s participation and voice: unfolding the complexities of children’s needs in and around supervised contact in Denmark

This article presents the first results of a Danish research project Supervised Contact: Support and sustainable development in vulnerable children’s everyday life (SOUL) (2023–2026). Supervised contact (SC) takes place when contact between children in out-of-home care and their parents is considered important but where the parents are not capable of taking responsibility for the contact by themselves without the risk of violating the child’s best interest. Based on qualitative data deriving from practice research seminars and interview studies, we analyse and discuss the complexities of children’s needs in and around SC. A major point is that there is a need to strengthen collaborative practices supporting children in making sense of SC and the relationship to their parents. This need goes beyond dichotomous political discourses in Denmark currently projecting a contradiction between children’s and parents’ right to participation and voice: a contradiction which may reinforce the child’s experience of being positioned in a conflict of interest and loyalty. Avoiding this is of great importance for the child’s experience of genuine participation and voice in SC and for the capacity of social work to promote empowerment and democratic participation.