Age and Understanding: The Developmental Framework

Abstract

When social workers are observing, talking to, listening to or playing with children, they need to have the knowledge and skills to take into account the developmental processes of childhood and, specifically, children’s own changing perspective on their world. The child must be seen as an actor in his or her own life rather than just a passive recipient of parenting and other experiences. From birth, the child will be trying to make sense of the world and will construct a framework for understanding and responding to events and relationships. Social workers need to be constantly asking, what is the child’s experience of this situation? What does it mean to them? The child has not only the right, but also the psychological and emotional need, to be treated as a person rather than an object of concern. In order for social workers to appreciate the experiences of children and enable them most effectively to express their wishes and feelings, they need to understand a child’s view of the world in its developmental context.