Young people, vulnerability and the possibility of agency through facilitated participation in institutional change

Young people’s participation is of key interest in youth studies, focusing on both (adult) facilitated spaces for participation (Percy-Smith, 2010; Tisdall, 2008) and young people’s (self-organized) forms of civic participation (Batsleer et al., 2017; Loncle, Jackson, & Muniglia, 2012). Participation through facilitated spaces has primarily focused on older children, while studies of self-organized participation has focused on youth. This division in focus refer to an assumption that agency and access to participate increases with age (Percy-Smith 2010). However, the practice of facilitating spaces for participation seems to persist late into the young adulthood for those who are positioned as vulnerable and thus not perceived as able to use their agency unsupported. This presentation will explore how three different Danish initiatives: 1) Establishing rights respecting youth counsels in secondary schools. 2) Young people’s participation in strengthen the communication between health professionals and young people in psychiatric care units. 3) Establishing youth groups to represent young residents in deprived neighborhoods. All projects are initiated by adult professionals with an objective support vulnerable young people to have a voice. Based on qualitative interviews performed as journey maps (Hall, 2005) this presentation explores 30 young people’s experiences of being positioned as vulnerable participants and discuss how access to participation and voice is strongly defined by the arenas for participations, by the positioning of young peoples as competent or not (Borgne & Tisdall, 2017) but also how most of the young people struggle to participate beyond their vulnerability. Batsleer, J., Ehrensperger, K., Osmanoğlu, B., Pais, A., Reutlinger, C., & Roth, P. (2017). Claiming spaces and struggling for recognition : Youth participation through local case studies Youth participation through local case. Borgne, C. Le, & Tisdall, E. K. M. (2017). Social inclusion. Social Inclusion (Vol. 5). Retrieved from https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/986/986 Hall, R. (2005). The value of visual exploration: understanding cultural activities with young people. The Public. Loncle, P., Jackson, G., & Muniglia, V. (2012). Youth participation in Europe: Beyond discourses, practices and realities. Policy Press Scholarship Online Youth. https://doi.org/10.1332/policypress/9781447300182.001.0001 Percy-Smith, B. (2010). Councils, consultations and community: rethinking the spaces for children and young people’s participation 1. Children’s Geographies. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733281003691368 Tisdall, E. K. M. (2008). Is the honeymoon over? Children and young people’s participation in public decision-making. International Journal of Children’s Rights, 16(3), 419–429. https://doi.org/10.1163/157181808X311240