"How Can You Know? You're Not a Foster Child": Dilemmas and Possibilities of Giving Voice to Children in Foster Care

Based on Axel Honneth's Theoty of Recognition and an empirical action research project entitled "Børnetinget" (Children's Parliament), conducted in Denmark by the author, this article discuss dilemmas and possibilities of giving voice to children in foster care. The Børnetinget project aimed to give voice to foster children so that their knowledge about "the life as a child in foster care" could find its way to social workers and foster parents as well as politicians, thus influencing, democratizing and qualifying social work with children and youth in foster care. "Børneting" was established with a core group of 15 foster children, aged 10-13, and a web-based "foster children's public forum". This article focuses on learning about participation from the Børnetinget experience, both as a model of participatory research practice and for the insights it provides in relation to how we understand participation in research and social work practice.