Digital Technology-Based Research With Young People in the Context of Hungarian Child Protection

Introduction

In this chapter, the experience of developing two apps and a video competition is presented as good practice in the Hungarian child protection system to show why it is important to inform and involve children and young people in decisions about their lives and how to encourage them to express their needs in a more targeted way. The opinion of children and young adults can be channelled into the development of high-quality child protection services, and their participation can help professionals better understand their situation and wishes and thus, work together more effectively.

The two online-based tools and video campaign were introduced to create social awareness in Hungarian society of the challenges faced by children and young people in the child welfare and protection system. This proved to be a good example of how although the involvement of vulnerable target groups in research and service development is very limited in Hungary, these programmes were important experiences for child protection professionals and a learning process regarding participatory research methods. The outcome of this participatory research indicates best practices for professionals in the child protection system.

Situation of Children in Hungary

In Hungary, the 1997 Child Protection Act defines the functional, theoretical and practical framework of the Hungarian child protection system. It also defines the fundamental rights and duties of children and their parents; the child protection system, including the benefits and measures taken by the authorities; the child welfare and child protection tasks of the state and local authorities, churches and nongovernmental organisations; and the organisational and main rules of the guardianship administration. The aim of child protection system is to prevent the various social problems that children and their parents face in their daily lives and once they have arisen, to alleviate and eliminate these situations of vulnerability. Nonetheless, systemic barriers exist to meeting this goal in Hungary, including an insufficient professional workforce and high turnover that have led the system to be primarily responsive to acute situations (i.e. ‘firefighting’ work culture), overoccupied with the continually increasing problem of child poverty, and lacking a clear legal definition of child abuse and neglect. A preventive approach, prevention as a way of thinking, and the incorporation of best practices and methods based on this approach are essential, but at present, this cannot be achieved in Hungarian practice (Rácz & Sik, 2020; Révész, 2007; Sik, 2020).

Since the regime change in 1989, the increasing poverty of children has been a problem in Hungary. The proportion of children at risk of poverty or social exclusion in Hungary is 23.8% in 2018, according to a 2018 study (European Court of Auditors, 2020). Child poverty varies widely by region. Children living in small, disadvantaged, segregated settlements have much lower chances of mobility and a higher risk of social exclusion (Rácz & Sik, 2020).

Regarding prevention and effective responses to problems that have already developed or are longstanding, various child protection programmes have a very important role to play, including seeking new ways and innovative methods to reach parents and children. Since 2017, the Rubeus Association has been implementing innovative programmes based on a broad partnership with members of state and municipal and civil representatives of the care system, which aim to provide social professionals working in family and child welfare services and child protection system with effective tools to improve their work, address family problems and contribute to a more conflict-free parent–child relationship by developing parenting skills.

Children's Participation in Evaluation and Development of Child Protection Services

According to the principles recommended by the Council of Europe (2011), ‘social services should ensure that the child is heard and taken seriously’ (p. 7). Participation of children and their families, including hearing their voices, is not common in the Hungarian child protection system. In the last 30 years, different child protection programmes have been implemented in the country with more or less success, but involvement of children and their families in the creation, development, or evaluation of child protection services still happens only on rare occasions. As recommended by the Council of Europe (2016a, 2016b, 2022) and experts in child participation (Kennan et al., 2016; Larkins et al., 2014), a framework is needed to systematically collect children's views on the welfare and care services directed towards them. As for adult beneficiaries of services, involving children would inform the planning, monitoring and improvement process.

The involvement of people younger than 18 in research is generally challenging and requires child-friendly methods (Punch, 2002). Success in creating spaces for participation (Council of Europe, 2016a) in child welfare services depends even more on methods used for consultation or collaboration with adults or initiation of research to evaluate and improve social services.

In the Hungarian child protection system, methods to involve children in evaluative or action research are rarely used. One reason is the challenges of working with children and young people in care and the scarcity of good practices adapted to their age-related needs that would facilitate the expression of their opinions. Another reason is related to present legislation – to involve children in research, a complicated authorisation procedure is required (Care Inspectorate, 2012; Cossar et al., 2013). Thus, the involvement of children in research on issues that concern them is negligible in Hungary. ‘While many researchers argue for the inclusion of children in research because of the neglected perspective of children and their rights to participation, the primacy of children's protection can have a significant impact on their actual participation’ (Kutrovátz, 2016, p. 89).

Aiming to respond to the recommendations of the Council of Europe, this study explored how using digital tools to give voice to children is a way to make this process interesting and worthy for children and young adults (Bidargaddi et al., 2017; Dute et al., 2016; Grist et al., 2017; Rácz et al., 2022).

Two apps, YounGO and Asszerteen, were developed based on the notion that for adolescents with history of child maltreatment and abandonment or with some kind of child protection problem, starting an independent life upon becoming young adults is a major challenge, especially when there is none or only a fragmented safety net around them. Professionals working with children and young people, helping them in their daily lives and development, often encounter challenging situations linked to crises in their lives (death, illness) or arising from difficulties in the environment (e.g. neglect, family conflicts, abuse). The background to the two applications and video competition involves the Rubeus Association. The Asszerteen app is one development of complex child protection programmes that have been running since 2017. ¹ The target groups of these programmes include children and their parents affected by addictions and mental disorders, family abuse, and conflicts. The programmes focus on strengthening the position of children in the family and more broadly, breaking down social stereotypes about children with child protection problems and their parents. In the case of a child who has been removed from the family, the aim is to help then maintain contact and support their effective reintegration. ²

The YounGo app is an earlier development of the Rubeus Association, but its promotion and conscious use have been integrated into the association's programmes since 2017. YounGo was the basis of the Who Am I? video campaign.

The two apps were created to support children as they face difficult life situations, with the aim of helping them develop the skills they need to live independently in the future (FIFTI, 2016; Rácz, 2017; Rácz & Bulyáki, 2021). In describing the process of developing the apps, this chapter outlines the role of participatory research with children and how their views were incorporated into the apps' finalisation.

It is important to note that on the international level, many applications exist. The goal of these apps is to help disadvantaged children and young adults to become more independent, increase their social integration and develop their social skills. The apps reflect the main topics important for growing up successfully, such as housing, education, health, family and relationships.

The results show that young people find these apps useful and prefer them as a way of communicating. The apps help them navigate challenges in their life and provide them up-to-date information. The apps have information about available helplines, so users can access them easily. The organised information also helps professionals connect with young people (Bidargaddi et al., 2017; Dute et al., 2016; Grist et al., 2017; Rácz et al., 2022).

YounGo

The development of the YounGo – Help, I'm Growing Up! phone app involved child protection professionals, researchers and young people placed in the child protection system. The YounGo app is based on thematic groups, which are called clubs, ³ and a comic book that describes the specialised care sector, raising awareness of the need for an effective and innovative form of support to help children become autonomous adults. The primary target group of the project is children and young people aged 12–30 growing up without a family in the child protection system. The secondary target group of the project are professionals (social workers, educators, foster parents and guardians) working with children.

The development of the app involved three key studies involving children and young people. Their participation in these studies helped improve the quality of the app. With the help of children, the topics, language and design of the app were more likely to fit the concerned target groups.

Asszerteen

The Awakenings Foundation, ⁴ a partner of the Rubeus Association, developed Asszerteen in 2020 and 2021. This app had an organisational predecessor in 2017, Asszertívia, an app that teaches assertive communication and helps people with mental health problems and psychosocial disabilities to cope with difficult everyday life situations and learn assertive communication patterns. This app was further developed with children and young people from child welfare and child protection backgrounds.

Asszerteen's stated aim is to develop teenagers' assertive communication and stress management skills in an easy-to-learn format. It features three domains – positive prompts, negative feelings and positive feelings – which consist of short modules of 5–15 minutes. The free course takes place in a virtual city (Asszertívia), and the user is asked to choose effective expressions and reactions from a set of options for characters (from different generations) in everyday life situations The app first briefly presents the aim of assertive communication to young people and then builds on hypothetical situations where they learn to notice and understand assertive communication. It is important to learn how to give feedback in certain pleasant or unpleasant situations. There are also short explanations for each situation so that they learn the correct, inoffensive way to express their feelings. In each task, the users choose from emotion emojis to learn to recognise and express their feelings. The end goal of Asszerteen is to help them use assertive communication in everyday situations with their friends and adults – e.g. dare to ask for favours or help or say no to requests that are inconvenient for them.

The course is accompanied by audio materials. The communication skills exercises were tested and discussed by young people.

As was the case with YounGo, children participated in the development of Asszerteen via research and later tested the app.

Who Am I? Campaign

The Who Am I? campaign was based on a video call for entries, wherein children and young people in child protection or any child protection services could submit a short film about their daily life, interests and plans. We asked for videos of up to 2 minutes in which children and young people could talk about themselves: what they like to do currently and what they would like to do in the future and how they support others (which makes them feel better, even for a minute). Two age categories were announced: 12–14 and 15–18. In total, 37 high-quality entries were received, judged by a professional jury, and ranked via a public vote through a Facebook campaign to increase visibility. The campaign was a success and is currently being considered further. Thousands of people voted for the best entries on Facebook. At the seminar where results were presented, participants said they were keen to work on their short films to give an authentic picture of their lives in the child protection system. The Rubeus Association plans to organise more campaigns like this to help children in the public care system raise their voices and show their lives to the rest of society.

Discussion

The examples of good participatory practices presented in this chapter show that for the self-regulation of a child protection system, the voice of children and young people need to be amplified to improve the quality of the system. Expressing their views and voicing their opinions helped children and young people become more independent and develop skills such as self-advocacy, decision-making, relationship-building and assertiveness. Encouraging young people to express their needs related to the care system increases the social visibility of children in the child protection system. By listening to what young people have to say, caregivers become more aware of the emotional dynamics between adults and minors, which can contribute to reducing social prejudice against children and young people in foster care and institutions, as exemplified by the Who Am I? competition. In a functional child protection system, the voices of empowered children and young people need to be amplified. Strengthening their capacity to express themselves and be heard facilitates the empowerment of young people and their process of becoming autonomous. Listening to young adults who are about to leave care can help professionals working in the foster care and institutional system to better understand what they need to prepare for an independent life, including their fears and potential stumbling blocks. The apps described in this chapter also provide professionals with up-to-date knowledge, help them understand their clients' feelings and thoughts, and aid them in taking joint action in an effective collaborative way to resolve their personal life.

These tools contribute to children's safety by providing them with quality and adequate information on important topics like independent living or communication with peers, parents and adults. It is important that young people were involved in collecting and analysing these data as research participants, such that their opinions were incorporated into the research, which also guaranteed that the apps would be easy for their peers to understand, like, and use. They said it was important to be able to express their views on difficult issues at the preparatory research stage and when an ICT-based product was developed along these lines, to be able to comment on it in a meaningful way at the testing stage. Their suggestions and requests for changes were acknowledged by the development teams and validated during the finalisation process. Testing was also extended to professionals, such that in all cases, they also indicated that both applications were a great help in their daily work and that they were looking for ways to use them. Participants stated that there was a need for wider use of the application, which is why the continued use of YounGo and Asszerteen in school social work is being considered. Because the development processes for both apps were participatory, they provided very important lessons on the involvement of children and young people in child protection situations. The results give us a better understanding of their situation and difficulties. The results indicate what type of information and help they need in the process of growing up. The results also show how they communicate with their friends and adults and in which situations they found it hard to express their emotions or opinions. A drawback, however, is that due to the projects' funding and time constraints, this involvement was very targeted and somewhat limited. Both apps must be updated with new content annually – for example, changes in the judicial system – and updating the YounGo app needs more funding. Table 8.2 summarises the benefits of innovations involving children and young people in research methods.

It is worth thinking about projects and service development in the field of child welfare and child protection that provide more time to recruit a team of children and young people, seek their views, involve them in development and testing, and put their views into practice. Two small-scale examples of this, however, clearly show that there are many benefits of listening to children's and young people's views, which are summarised in Table 8.2.

Conclusions

This chapter outlined the experience of developing two applications and one thematically relevant video competition, with the aim of showing the gains and strengths that participatory projects can bring, including as a learning process for professionals. The outcomes indicate that participatory research among children and young adults can help the research process be more targeted, and precise if participants – in this case, children and young adults – are involved.

During the development phases of the YounGo and Asszerteen applications – i.e. design, implementation, testing and finalisation – the representation of young people's opinions was very prominent and they expressed happiness about participating in these phases. Both apps are primary preventive tools for mental health because they help users cope more effectively with everyday stress and problems by developing communication, life, problem-solving, cooperation and other skills, including those needed to become successful adults. All these skills are also much needed by professionals and can be put to good use in their daily work.

This chapter highlighted the advantages of participatory research among children. The participation of children improved the development process of these apps. Their participation clarified their needs and taught them how to express and act for themselves. The outcome of the Who Am I? campaign emphasised that participation gave them an opportunity to introduce their situation and raise their voice. The participants were open to this task and found their voice easily. The chance to share their thoughts about their life and opportunities helped decrease prejudice and generated a positive and authentic image about children and young people in the child protection system. In addition to improved self-confidence and self-assessment, the participants learnt new skills and broadened their knowledge. The results show that participatory research can help define the special needs of children and create a more targeted and efficient child protection system.