Peters (1996) comments: ‘… the very people who may have the most to gain from participation may be the same people who are least likely actually to participate in the policy process’ (p 121). This comment is particularly true for children1. Children are subject to intense state and public intervention and are some of the highest users of public services but, until recently, they have been officially excluded from the policy process.

Now, children's participation is on the national policy agenda in the UK. Overviews of activities across the UK (Carnegie Young People Initiative, 2001; Cutler and Taylor, 2003) point to a general increase in participation activities and opportunities. The most recent evidence comes from a postal survey of statutory and voluntary organisations, undertaken in England (Oldfield and Fowler, 2004). Four out of five organisations reported involving children in decision making, with 89% of statutory and 74% of non-governmental organisations2 (NGOs) reporting an increase in participation work over the past four years. Involvement, however, was not equally distributed across activities. Children were most likely to be involved in generating ideas about existing and new policies and services, and least likely to be involved in service delivery, monitoring and evaluation.

Respondents report that children had someinfluence on decisions made by their organisation (71% of statutory and 62% of NGOs). But only one in ten statutory and three in ten NGO respondents thought that children had a ‘great deal’ of influence on organisational decisions. Respondents differed considerably on the effectiveness of particular approaches, although a commonality was the view that all approaches could be effective – if undertaken properly.

As children's participation is taking hold in policy and practice, the question of how much impact such participation has on decision making is gaining volume (see also Kirby with Bryson, 2002). Concerns have been raised from children and adults alike, that children's involvement in decision-making can be tokenistic, a ‘tick-box’ exercise that fails to result in any substantive change (CIS, 2000; Sinclair, 2004). The arguments on children's participation now stretch beyond the mere recognition that children should participate, to demands that this participation result in ‘political’ change.