Introduction

This chapter draws attention to the developing field of policy and practice related research which specifically seeks to take account of the views and experiences of children. Much of that to which I will refer concerns parental breakdown and separation since that is the main focus of this book. It should be read in conjunction with Chapter Five, which contains a number of verbatim extracts taken from a Cardiff University research study. This set out to record the views of children and young people whose parents had divorced, to show the impact of parental separation on their social and emotional wellbeing. By contrast, in this particular chapter I look at largely quantitative research materials.

It should be acknowledged that overall research into a wide range of children's life experiences is developing fast, representing something of a cultural shift since the 1970s. Even before then certain pioneering researchers, such as Royston Lambert and Spencer Millham, in their research in the 1960s for the Public Schools Commission, sought to sample the views of children. This led on to a number of other studies concerned with listening to children in educational and other professional services contexts.

Another initial point to note is that the very concept of childhood and the idea of children's right to be heard is culturally defined. Moreover that culture is constantly and rapidly changing. For example, Hilton, citing an OFCOM report, points out that nowadays:

He adds:

We have yet to have available well-constructed socio-legal research to evaluate the effects of this technological revolution on children facing parental conflict and separation.