© British Association of Social Workers
Listening to Children—Who Cares?
Kathleen Kufeldt (née Galvin) is currently an instructor at the University of Calgary. She obtained her original social work training at the Universities of Edinburgh and Southampton. After some years of field work she entered graduate studies in the Faculty of Social Welfare at the University of Calgary obtaining her PhD in 1981. This article was written while in receipt of a post-doctoral Fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Summary
The intent of this article is to reinforce the idea of listening to children in care. It is the author's belief that when given the opportunity to be heard, children can provide observations that are both relevant and important. To illustrate this belief the article provides verbatim comments of children obtained as part of a larger research endeavour. It concludes with observations extracted from children's evaluations of a Canadian ‘Who Cares?’ conference held in 1979, the Year of the Child.