Child protection
Key challenge | Mitigation strategies |
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If children with disabilities participate in evidence generation activities, they must be protected and kept safe, but their right to participate in evidence generation processes must also be protected. |
Disability-inclusive child protection/safeguarding protocols must be developed that balance participant autonomy and protection. These must be discussed with participants and their families. Protection/safeguarding protocols must consider the increased risks faced by children with disabilities, as well as the barriers they may face in reporting or obtaining assistance. Protocols must be developed detailing how situations will be dealt with if information needs to be passed on to relevant protection bodies for the safety of a child. Child protection/safeguarding mechanisms can include:
Children should be informed of their right to be protected from harm and about how they can make complaints or report incidents. Organizations should develop child safeguarding policies. These policies should directly inform individual protection /safeguarding protocols developed for evidence programmes. |
Researchers must recognize that although disability can result in increased vulnerabilities, inferring that all children with disabilities are automatically vulnerable can be problematic. |
Researchers should adopt a social model of disability for research, which frames disability as being caused by society, rather than by a child’s impairment or perceived difference from a supposed ‘normal’. Researchers should avoid imposing roles and identities on children with disabilities based on assumptions. Researchers should aim for the involvement of children with disabilities in evidence generation activities to be empowering. Researchers should not patronize children with disabilities as vulnerable and in need of help and support. Best practice is to ask the children what help and support they need. |
Power imbalances between the (adult) researcher and the (child) participant can increase risks of disempowerment and vulnerability for children with disabilities. |
Researchers may want to establish an identity as the ‘least-adult’ friend (i.e., not a parent or teacher) who is interested in the child and her/his ideas. Gaining children’s trust and respect must be balanced with the dangers of overfamiliarity or the development of an inappropriate dependency on the adults among the children. Involving children with disabilities as co-researchers/peer researchers can reduce power imbalances and improve safeguarding. |
The safeguarding of participants must continue after the study has ended. |
Participant expectations must be managed through robust consent processes, and an exit strategy planned. The managing of expectations following the data collection phase is particularly important for children with learning impairments. Self-advocacy groups or organizations of people with disabilities may be able to provide ongoing support and appropriate follow-ups. |