1.Contextualising Childhood, Transition And Social Justice. 2.Representations of Children And Young People. 3.Participation in Everyday Decisions. 4.Civic Engagement. 5.Inclusive Education? 6.Space and Place. 7.Regulation and Policing. 8.Legacy of the Conflict. 9.Addressing the Rights Deficit. 10.Responding to the Voices of Children and Young People. Poem: Stars Will Shine by Sean Fitzsimons.
Biography
Deena Haydon is an independent research and policy consultant on childhood and children's rights.
Phil Scraton is Professor Emeritus, School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland.
'Based on extensive research and consultations conducted by the authors in Northern Ireland over a twenty-year period, this important book draws in detail on the voices and experiences of children and young people. Written in an authoritative yet accessible style by two of the leading authorities in the field, it proposes evidence-based and rights-focused solutions to a range of contemporary social and political issues which impact the everyday lives and futures of all children and young people.'
Anne-Marie McAlinden, Professor, School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland.'This compelling book makes an urgent and timely contribution by foregrounding young people’s voices in a society still negotiating the unfinished realities of conflict and transition in Northern Ireland. It advances epistemic justice by challenging the regulation, silencing, and marginalisation of youth perspectives, and by demonstrating how young people actively interpret, contest, and reshape the social conditions of inequality, division, and fragile peace that frame their lives. It is essential reading for anyone committed to understanding how more just and inclusive futures must be built together with young people.'
Päivi Honkatukia, Professor, Youth Research, Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, Finland.'A seminal work prioritizing lived experiences of children within the ‘interpretive frames’ of modern society. Examining interventions by global activists alongside localized research, it exposes pervasive ‘adultism’ and structural inequalities that consistently silence young voices. A searing analysis of Northern Ireland’s legacy of conflict detailing how transgenerational trauma, sectarianism, and paramilitary regulation continue to marginalize youth in divided communities. Crucially, it addresses a critical rights deficit, challenging state agencies’ failure to implement the UNCRC. Grounded in twenty years of community engagement and qualitative research, it demands a ‘fundamental shift’ in power relations, advocating for children to have a voice in social change and shaping their futures. An essential resource for students, activists, academics, teachers and policymakers committed to a genuine social justice agenda and effective structural change.'
Bree Carlton, Associate Professor, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia.'Theoretically situated within social constructionist traditions, empirically located within a society deeply entrenched in ongoing and contested processes of political transition, and uncompromisingly directed towards the realisation of international human rights standards across the related spheres of policy and practice, this book takes bold intellectual strides. By navigating a route through analytical complexities and hostile material contexts, Haydon and Scraton ‘give voice’ to children and young people who simultaneously endure formidable socio-economic and political conditions and routinely experience marginalisation and exclusion. Their book makes a distinctive and powerful contribution. In short, it comprises an exemplar of critical research that is duly cognisant of the challenges but energetically alive to the prospects and possibilities of a better world.'
Barry Goldson, Professor Emeritus, School of Law and Social Justice, University of Liverpool, UK.'Unflinching in their diagnosis and with piercing clarity, Haydon and Scraton tackle legacies of silencing and marginalising children and young people which resonate globally and congeal locally into dismissal and intolerance under the hard fist of adult power. Resisting society’s distrustful portraits of children and young people through powerful testimonies coupled with sharp and sweeping analysis, Haydon and Scraton elevate the children and young people of Northern Ireland as reliable witnesses of their own lives in transition. This book shakes with evidence and urgency, calling us to reimagine the children’s rights agenda and realise rights by acting respectfully, openly, and inclusively of children and young people. Researching and writing by these principles, Haydon and Scraton show us what it looks like to take seriously a commitment to social justice for children and young people in this compelling and timely book of international importance and universal relevance.'
Rebecca Scott Bray, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The University of Sydney, Australia.'Finally, thanks to established social justice researchers, Deena Haydon and Phil Scraton, a book about children and young people that centres on their experiences and voices.'
Tony Platt, Professor Emeritus, Centre for the Study of Law and Society, Berkeley, USA.'This book honours and amplifies the voices of children and young people. Contextualised by the experiences of the young in Northern Ireland, they speak of matters of broader critical importance: intergenerational trauma, communities divided and the long shadow of colonialism. The book provides an excellent opportunity to hear and learn from young people, their challenges and their demands to be heard.'
Chris Cunneen, Professor, Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research, University of Technology Sydney, Australia.'An important body of evidence, invaluable for anyone wanting to advance children’s rights in Northern Ireland. It will be my ‘go to’ for a thorough, in-depth review of the key issues impacting on children and young people over the last 20 years. Providing a compelling case that we must learn from if we are to change the course of progress and truly improve the lives of children and young people, particularly those most vulnerable and disadvantaged. The authors reinforce the role that children and young people must play in that progress, providing numerous examples of children and young people who stand ready to challenge and call to account duty bearers who have let them down. We are left with a hint of optimism that through collective action and hope the next 20 years could be better than what has gone before.'
Paula Rodgers, Policy Manager, Include Youth, Northern Ireland.'This book foregrounds the voices of children in an age of intense social conflict and oppression. It calls for the recognition of children’s rights as a form of empowerment and social change. Through adopting a rights framework, children are given access to social, moral and economic resources that enables them, and in turn society, the possibility of realising their potential. By calling for the implementation of rights, children are treated not as the future but as present, and crucial, change makers.'
Thalia Anthony, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney, Australia.'Deena Haydon and Phil Scraton unapologetically put the voices of children and young people first. The voices of young children’s rights defenders such as Malala Yousafzai, X (Emma) González and Greta Thunberg, and also those of ‘ordinary’ young people from Northern Ireland who express their desire for a life without violent conflict, without sectarianism and racism, without sexism and homophobia that so clearly deliver the main message of this book. How dare we not take children and young people seriously? How dare we dismiss their capacity to form clear views and take sensible decisions? This book energizes its readers, spurring them to action.'
Dirk Schubotz, Professor, School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work, Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland.'A must read for anyone seeking to understand youth participation in social justice. It takes a unique perspective, focusing on how the views of children and young people are not only not considered but are actively silenced.'
Fiona Dyer, Professor, Director, Children & Young People’s Centre for Justice, University of Strathclyde, Scotland.'The voices of children are front and centre of this important and meticulously researched book. Childhood, Transition and Social Justice provides a compelling analysis of the persistent breaches of rights and harms experienced by children and young people in Northern Ireland's transitional society. It will be essential reading for practitioners, policy-makers and those studying childhood and children's rights.'
Linda Moore, School of Applied Social and Policy Sciences, Ulster University, Northern Ireland.
