From procedural child rights education to a relational child rights-based practice model

Children’s rights are often operationalised in administrative and procedural ways, particularly in child welfare and residential services contexts. In this article, a group of five authors representing academics and alumni from Ryerson University’s Child & Youth Care programme who are also people from care present a dialogue process surrounding lived experiences of rights education processes while in care. The dialogue is complemented with a review of child rights education material used by child welfare agencies in Ontario, Canada as tools to explain rights to children and youth admitted into care. We conclude that a child rights-based practice model is necessary in which rights and daily life are fully integrated.