Children’s initiatives: Exploring participation in social work interviews

Children’s right to participation in child protection processes is widely recognized. While much existing research relies on retrospective accounts of how participation is accomplished, less attention has been paid to how children participate in naturally occurring interactions with social workers. This article examines recorded institutional conversations between children and social workers within Swedish social services, focusing on children’s initiatives as a form of participation. Using conversation analysis, the study identifies a range of practices through which children take initiative in the unfolding interaction, thereby shaping the trajectory of the talk. The findings show that children actively contribute to institutional encounters by introducing topics, asking questions, and redirecting the course of the interaction. In doing so, they display interactional competence and an orientation to the institutional agenda. The study contributes to research on children’s participation by demonstrating how participation is accomplished moment by moment in interaction, and by highlighting children as competent social actors in institutional contexts.