Understanding Intersectionalities in Psychosocial Well-Being & Justice — Transformational Processes in the Interface between Child Mental Health & Law

The thesis aims to provide an understanding of intersectionalities in psychosocial well-being and justice, including methods and processes for transforming children’s interface with the law. It combines a strong rights perspective with rigorous scientific evidence, to demonstrate how child-centred approaches may be applied to serve the needs of children interacting with mental health and judicial systems. While the findings, as they pertain to problem-solving and systems transformation, are generalizable to other vulnerable populations interacting with various types of systems, they are also contextualized to the unique socio-cultural challenges found in the traditional societies (and systems) in low-to-middle-income countries--where systems, especially those catering to marginalized and disempowered groups, such as children, tend to be at a relatively nascent stage. Herein lies the importance of this thesis, and the contribution it has made to the child law systems in India-- a country that is grappling with implementing child protection policies and laws against a backdrop of problems characterized by a considerable population of children suffering from adversity and maltreatment, (child) mental health and protection services that lack adequate knowledge and skills to assist these children, and a judicial system that is not designed or equipped to deal with vulnerable witnesses such as children. In addition to its scientific contribution, the practical relevance of the thesis is evident in the plethora of methods it has developed for the use of systems, to interact with children, in comport with the tenets of child rights and mental health; furthermore, the acceptance of these methods are exemplified by the Indian Supreme Court’s direction to use them in child protection practice, such to assist children in conflict with law, through processes of juvenile transfer.