ABSTRACT
Children’s lives are regulated and planned by adults. Most adults who plan services for young people would claim to be acting in the best interests of children, and they believe that they understand what children need. Children themselves are rarely represented either directly or indirectly. Adult agendas define the concerns which society deems to be important about children (Stainton-Rogers and Stainton-Rogers, 1992), and these concerns are constructed by particular historical forces and events (Gergen et al, 1990). The human sciences have been dominated by this adult focus in which young people are seen as objects of study rather than subjects with their own valid constructions of the world (Caputo, 1995).
