Conceptualising the Development of the National Guidance on the Participation of Disabled Children and Young People in Decision-Making in Ireland through the Lens of Implementation Science

This paper describes the collaborative development of national guidance in the Republic of Ireland, specifically designed to support the upholding of the rights of disabled children and young people to meaningful participation in decision-making, as outlined in Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), General Comments 5, 9, and 12, as well as the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). We conceptualise this process within the Interactive Systems Framework for Dissemination and Implementation (Wandersman et al., 2008), which highlights the need for a shared planning process and multi-system support to ensure effective implementation. We propose that strategies from Implementation Science are essential to translate this guidance into practice, enabling the monitoring and evaluation of its effectiveness in safeguarding the participation rights of disabled children and young people. Our paper advocates for the application of Implementation Science as a critical tool to further the rights enshrined in both the UNCRC and UNCRPD, ensuring that disabled children and young people are actively involved in decision-making processes that affect their lives.