This chapter considers Child Protection Conferences from the perspective of children and parents who have experienced them. National government guidance (Working Together, DfE, 2018) states that the overall purpose of a Child Protection Conference is to safeguard children. It aims to ensure children's safety, promote children's health and development and identify when a child is at risk of significant harm. In the United Kingdom, various pieces of legislation, guidance and policies set out the requirements for parents and children to be involved in the process of Child Protection Conferences and for their wishes and feelings to be listened to and considered by professionals. Yet, several research studies show that this is not happening consistently in practice.

In this chapter, I will explore the extent to which children, young people and parents understand the purpose of a Child Protection Conference and whether they feel actively involved in the process. This chapter is based on interviews my colleagues and I carried out across two LAs with 52 parents and 40 children who at the time of the interviews were subject to a Child Protection Plan. The children interviewed were aged between 8 and 18, and all were still living at home with at least one parent.

A Child Protection Conference is a multi-agency forum whereby information relating to the welfare of a child is shared and if the child is deemed to be at risk of significant harm, a Child Protection Plan is implemented or updated. As of March 2018, 53,790 children were subject to Child Protection Plans in England (NSPCC, 2013b). This represents a major increase: a 70 per cent rise in just ten years in the numbers of children subject to a Child Protection Plan in England.

Government guidance (Working Together, DfE, 2018) states that professionals should work closely with families to try and increase parents’ and children's (in an age-appropriate manner) meaningful participation during the child protection process, encourage joint working and offer support to families. Working Together to Safeguard Children (DfE, 2018) states that SWs should ensure children and their parents understand the purpose of the conference, conference reports should be shared with the family well ahead of the meeting and SWs should support the child to attend the Child Protection Conference, or least part of it, if they are mature enough.