Guidelines: Consent of children

As well as parental consent when required by law (i.e. age < 16 years), any teenager must be allowed to give their own consent/assent.

Children who are involved as research participants should be offered the option of assenting to the research.

The only exceptions to these rules would be where the researchers were able to establish, for the validity of the research, that the children should not know they were taking part in a research project.

In the case where your research involves children, it is necessary to provide Parental/Guardian Information Statements and Consent Forms. A space may be included for the child to sign his/her consent on the Parental/Guardian Consent Form.

Depending on the age of the child involved, it may be appropriate to also provide separate Participant Information Statements for children and for adults.