Child and youth participation in child protection: Provincial harm reduction policy efforts in the Canadian Province of New Brunswick.

Background: The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) affirms interdependent rights to protection and participation, but barriers continue to hinder participation in protection practices.

Objective: What can be learned from young people's participation in their own protection when it comes to harm reduction public policy efforts?

Participants and setting: This study focused on provincial public policy in New Brunswick, Canada and involved both children and adults in research design and data collection. The provincial Youth Voice Committee was created to inform the development and implementation of the provincial harm reduction strategy. This strategy promotes children's rights to live free from harm through the reduction of physical, sexual, emotional, and sociocultural harms, not only abuse and neglect.

Method: This study involved international and local child and youth advisory committees to support research design and implementation. Participatory qualitative data collection methods included young people and adults separately as well as collectively in intergenerational meetings.

Results: Findings reveal a broad and unique interpretation of child protection as harm reduction, and that fear and policy processes continue to pose barriers even in contexts dedicated to children's rights. Adults should no longer exclusively influence protection policies, and children and youth are interested in effective intergenerational and relational collaborations. Greater commitment to diversity is needed in participatory efforts.

Conclusions: A rights-based relational approach in research and policy-making necessitates the effective involvement of children and youth to support harm reduction in policy and practice. Policy makers are urged to engage young people alongside adults in child protection and public policies.