Consultation with Children on the Move : Lessons Learned in Creating a Child-friendly Research Process

Abstract

In order to respond to the growing needs of migrant families with children, and especially unaccompanied children, who were traveling on the Western Balkan route, social workers and other field workers and child protection officers had to acquire new knowledge and develop specific competencies in a relatively short period of time. Although Serbia is mainly a country of transit, migrant children, who have been staying in Serbia for a longer period of time, have experienced challenges in access to services due to language barriers, overstretched capacities and insufficient coordination. The aim of the paper is to describe and reflect on the process used to develop a design, which ensures migrant children are consulted throughout the process and are the co-creators of a social work curriculum responding to their vulnerabilities. In order to gain insights on the views of children on the move regarding competencies of the workforce in both the government and NGO institutions, a consultation process was introduced with both unaccompanied and accompanied children in Serbia. The methodology of consultations was designed as interactive and safe for children to express their views and experiences. Results indicate that children should be key participants in the co-creation of knowledge in matters that concern them, and it is necessary to develop, test and evaluate the ways in which we can best understand their experiences, points of view and perspectives and incorporate them into knowledge for action.