Reviewing Models

Speaker: Elizabeth Wynter

So as we talk about youth participation in decisions that impact their lives and in co-designing policies and practices, it's important that we look back at the research. And so there has been an evolution regarding participation models from citizen participation ladder that was developed by Arnstein back in 1969. Which was then updated by Roger Hart, who developed the ladder of youth participation, who really focused more on children and family participation with the ladder that went from tokenism, to fully involved in invested youth voice. But the more recent um youth participation model came from Wong who developed Wong's Pyramid. And we're going to really dive into to this model. Because I think it, it really aligns well with what we're trying to do in child welfare. And so Wong's typology of youth participation and empowerment really began on one side with adult control, right? And, and us having symbolic engagement of young people. And then on the other side of the pyramid really is youth control, right? With youth led youth being independent in driving change. But Wong really speaks to the top of the participation model as being pluralistic. And a pluralistic relationship means youth and adult partnership and having that shared control. And so in that pluralistic level, youth have a voice and are active participants and youth and adults are sharing power and control in this model. And so as we try to apply this to youth in foster care, we really have to think about, what are the strategies and path forward for us to engage this? And so one thing we want to do is we wanna asses our current participation levels. And so our existing practices engaging and supporting and sharing power with young people. We, if not, we need to set higher goals for participation. We need to lean into them having an active voice in the work we do. Not just being at the table but also being empowered and prepared to be in that space. We need to provide them with training, right? And support. So they need to know what does it mean to be at a permanency planning meeting? What is their role in that meeting? And then we need to create feedback mechanisms. And so after these experiences and opportunities for youtj to participate, we need to check in, Right? With, how did that feel for you? What could we have done differently? We also need to check in with our other colleagues and see how they're doing and how they're acclimating to having youth in at the table. And so, by understanding the evolution of these youth participation models and working towards the highest level of engagement, which is that pluralistic youth adult partnership, we can ensure that youth voices are not only heard, but they're integral to decision making processes that affect their lives and ultimately leading to more responsive and supportive child welfare system.