Parent participation in social work meetings: the case of child protection meetings

This paper is about parent participation in cases where children are involved in a child protection process in the UK. It concentrates on the child protection conference as a site at which the participation of the client and decision-making by professionals are balanced with one another. Unlike previous research, which has been concerned with asking participants their reactions and views using research interviews, the focus here will be on the verbal exchanges between participants in the conference, based on a recording of a child protection review. In this way it is proposed that attention is directed at how the client is enabled to participate and what significance is given to such participation during the event.