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Summary: This report presents the results from a survey developed and conducted by the Childwatch International Research Network’s Children and the Law Study Group. The survey explored how children’s participation rights are respected in post-separation decision-making in international family law contexts, including a focus on the legislative mechanisms and on the factors that facilitated, or hindered, children’s participation.
The survey was distributed, in May 2009, to all organisations currently involved with the Childwatch International Research Network. To date, completed surveys have been received from 13 institutions, representing 30% of the 44 organisations and 37% of the 35 countries involved. Given the trend, nationally and internationally, towards recognising the importance and benefits of children’s participation, this project extends knowledge about how children’s participation rights are currently applied in family law decision-making internationally. However, the results should not be interpreted as providing a globally-representative perspective on these issues. Rather, they represent individual respondents’ understanding of the issues within their country, as they could best express them within the time and resources available to them and, likely, informed by their personal and professional backgrounds and experiences.