Intersectional, Feminist, and Decolonial Approaches to Researching Care-Experienced Children and Youth: A Critical Review

Research has consistently shown that involvement in child welfare systems is associated with elevated risks of adverse long-term outcomes across education, employment, mental health, housing stability, and justice system involvement. However, much of this literature has relied on outcome-focused approaches that insufficiently account for the intersecting structures shaping care-experienced children's and youth's lived realities. This critical review synthesises feminist, intersectional, and decolonial frameworks applied to research on care-experienced children and young people, examining their theoretical foundations, methodological practices, and common themes and implications for future research. A qualitative meta-analytic scoping review was conducted following the frameworks of Arksey and O'Malley, and Levac et al. Searches were carried out in Web of Science, ERIC, and EBSCOhost using keywords in English, Spanish, and Catalan. From 899 records identified, 22 studies published between 2019 and 2025 met the inclusion criteria. Eligible studies focused on care-experienced children or youth involved in child welfare services and adopted feminist, intersectional, decolonial, or critical pedagogical orientations, with a focus on young people's agency. The findings identify recurrent forms of trauma linked to gender-based violence, racialised and gendered disciplinary practices, homophobic and transphobic microaggressions, identity erasure, housing precarity, and punitive educational responses. While intersectionality is increasingly referenced, its integration into research design and analysis remains uneven. Methodologically, participatory, narrative, and arts-based approaches show particular promise in centring youth agency and challenging deficit-based discourses. The review underscores the need for trauma-informed, anti-oppressive, and non-policing research frameworks capable of addressing structural violence and informing more just and inclusive child welfare policies and practices.