Unheard voices: researching participation in social work

The article draws attention to the loss of contract power of people, especially those with mental disabilities. It shows a gap between policies and ideology of participation on the one hand and lived experiences of participation practices in the care proceedings' systems on the other. Users' participation seems to be a trademark of contemporary EU social policy or mental health policy, while children's participation is the most emphasised part of child-friendly justice discourse, but the question arises whether they really are in place. The national and European research projects conducted by the author and her colleagues in the last years are used to emphasise the most problematic points, but also innovative social work and advocacy practices. The central focus of the article is therefore the author's recent EU research project Access to Justice for Children with Mental Disabilities', which has addressed the participation of children with mental disabilities in all stages of the legal processes. In the case of Slovenia, these are mainly taking the place at centres of social work. The findings showed that in spite of the progress towards participation of children in general in social care decisions, children with mental disabilities remain virtually invisible.