Children's agency in contact disputes: navigating protection, participation and alienation

This article examines how children's agency is framed, constrained and sometimes co-opted within contested child arrangement proceedings, particularly in the context of alienation and coercive behaviours. Drawing on qualitative interviews with legal professionals in Northern Ireland, the study explores how statutory interventions, though well-intentioned, may inadvertently reinforce coercive family dynamics when relational histories are overlooked. Legal practitioners described patterns in which inexperienced social workers, shaped by high-profile child protection discourses, applied overly defensive assessments to low-risk family disputes. These tendencies risk amplifying one parental narrative and misinterpreting children's expressed wishes as autonomous rather than relational. Using a feminist and children's rights framework, the paper argues that agency must be understood within the child's evolving emotional environment and family context. By foregrounding legal professionals' observations of social work practice, the study offers a novel, cross-professional lens on how institutional systems can undermine children's participation rights. The article concludes with recommendations for enhancing relational assessment practices, strengthening professional training and supporting more nuanced approaches to the child's voice in private law proceedings.