Child participation in child protection: A participatory action research project exploring children's views of child sexual abuse

There is now growing consensus that approaches to child sexual abuse must be parallel with child empowerment, highlighting the need for creative approaches within child protection strategies. Yet despite wider acceptance of... [ view full abstract ]

There is now growing consensus that approaches to child sexual abuse must be parallel with child empowerment, highlighting the need for creative approaches within child protection strategies. Yet despite wider acceptance of the view that children have the capacity to deal with matters pertaining to sexuality, power relations and cultural beliefs, children’s participation in sexual abuse prevention is insufficiently articulated or practiced. This paper will present an innovative participatory action research project undertaken in a township in South Africa in which children articulated their views on child sexual abuse, from defining the issue through to potential mechanisms of protection. Using a variety of participatory techniques to explore the children’s views, the research demonstrates that children do not view themselves as vulnerable but rather as active agents who are competent to participate in child sexual abuse prevention initiatives. The participants viewed themselves as having a significant level of power to deal with child sexual abuse, from self-advocacy through to children changing their own sub-cultures and affecting changes within children’s own spaces. While further research is needed to understand many of the issues highlighted within this research, it is hoped that this innovative approach to researching child sexual abuse can provide an alternative avenue for the development of genuinely holistic protection strategies that truly recognise children as active social agents.