Children’s Voices

The notion of the child’s ‘voice’ is a central concern in child welfare discourses and practices as well as in social scientific childhood studies. A significant landmark for the emergence of the child’s voice in public and scholarly discourses has been the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This entry is concerned with the subsequent definitions, purposes, and uses of the child’s voice and changes in approaches over time with an emphasis on social science. Certain turning points may be observed in how the concept has been developed and treated from the 1990s until the 2010s, including continuities as well as criticisms.