THE CHILD’S RIGHT TO BE HEARD IN LAW AND SOCIAL WORK

Abstract

The right of the child, pursuant to Art. 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, guarantees every child capable of forming her or his own opinion the right to be heard in matters that concern them. It is actualized in all areas of the child’s life, in the family, school, health system, different types of procedures (family, criminal, civil, legal), in the community, as well as on the national and international level. The European Court of Human Rights also protects the child’s right to be heard by continuously developing case law that protects the child’s participatory rights. The child’s right to be heard is directly incorporated into social work as a profession based on the principles of respect for human rights, including children’s rights, as well as the principle of user participation. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the international and national legal framework that guarantees the right of the child to be heard in court proceedings and social work, based on the content analysis of regulations, court practice, domestic and foreign literature, so as to point out practical problems in realizing the child’s right to be heard, detected in domestic and foreign research.