Music therapy in the best interest of the child
- evenruud
- Nov 24
- 6 min read
Viggo Krüger and Kathleen M. Murphy 2025. Child-Centred Music Therapy: Integrating Best Interest of the Child into Theory, Research, and Practice. Palgrave Macmillan. Foreword by Andeline dos Santos. Open access
Viggo Krüger, Professor of Music Therapy at the Grieg Academy, University of Bergen, and Kathleen M. Murphy, Associate Professor of Music Therapy at The State University of New York, have written a book on music therapy and Article 3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. With a contribution by Maren Metell (Chapter 5), Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Grieg Academy, and a foreword by Andeline dos Santos, the book clearly establishes the importance of children’s rights—and, not least, the implications this has for music therapists. According to the authors’ foreword, there are now around 12,000 music therapists worldwide, and approximately one-third of them work with children and young people under the age of 18. This undoubtedly makes the topic a universally important one within music therapy.
Three Forms of Injustice
Starting with Andeline dos Santos’s foreword, she emphasizes that children are far too often not recognized as knowers—as bearers of knowledge. They are regarded as unreliable conveyors of their own testimony (testimonial injustice). Children’s testimonies are insufficiently incorporated into our knowledge base—what dos Santos refers to as hermeneutical injustice.
In addition, there is a form of epistemic injustice rooted in a failure of recognition. What is lacking here concerns therapists’ need to improve their own understanding and skills in order to better value children’s expressions. The goal is to give children greater agency, balanced with appropriate adult support. Children should not merely be recipients of therapeutic interventions but, in collaboration with the therapist, be regarded as co-creators of the knowledge that shapes the therapeutic process.
Best Interests
Krüger and Murphy establish early in the book that Article 3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child must form the framework for children’s right to receive music therapy when it is in their best interest. The term the best interest of the child is frequently discussed in the chapters that follow—in relation to planning, implementation, and evaluation. Yet determining what is in the child’s best interest is complex. It is a dynamic concept, open to multiple interpretations depending on perspective. It may relate to economic interests, political aims, individual circumstances, cultural factors, social support, and more. However, when starting from the child’s needs and advocating a child-centered approach to decision-making, the child’s interests become the guiding force for all actions and interventions. Balancing needs and interests is one of the challenges the book addresses.
Article 3
We learn more about Article 3, in which the principle of the child’s best interest is a core principle in all matters affecting children—on both the individual and societal/institutional levels, within family life, schools, welfare systems, and healthcare, and not least in all professional practices and research concerning children. This principle involves recognizing children as active agents with the right to influence the policies and procedures that affect them—thus contributing to a fair and democratic society grounded in human rights values.
The authors also present the historical background of the Convention—from the first formulations of children’s rights in the mid-19th century, through Eglantyne Jebb’s (1876–1928) articulation of “the best interest of the child,” to the UN’s 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child, and finally the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Ten Principles
It is helpful to repeat these principles—summarized briefly in English:
Equality: The right to equality without discrimination based on race, religion, or national origin.
Special Protection: The right to special protection for physical, mental, and social development.
Identity: The right to a name and nationality.
Basic Needs: The right to adequate nutrition, housing, and medical services.
Special Education and Treatment: The right to special education and care when a child is physically or mentally disabled.
Love and Understanding: The right to be met with understanding and love by parents and society.
Recreation and Education: The right to recreational activities and free education.
Priority in Relief: The right to be among the first to receive relief in all situations.
Protection from Harm: The right to protection from all forms of neglect, cruelty, and exploitation.
Spirit of Brotherhood: The right to be raised in a spirit of understanding, tolerance, friendship among peoples, and universal brotherhood.
Music Therapists Enter the Field
The first explicitly music-therapeutic contributions appeared in 2012 with Stige and Aarø’s Invitation to Community Music Therapy and the project “The Children’s Right to Music Project” by Sandi Curtis and Guylaine Vaillancourt. In the years that followed, numerous projects—many by Norwegian music therapists—highlighted the anchoring of children’s rights in the UN Convention.
Krüger and Murphy also discuss the importance of the therapist’s judgment, particularly in the ethical reflections required when determining what truly serves the child’s best interest. The book presents critiques of the somewhat vague wording of the term “the child’s best interest.” They warn that interpretations can be manipulated by politicians or authorities with their own agendas. Merely citing “the child’s best interest” risks becoming an empty gesture that does not influence actual decision-making. In this context, integrating children’s rights into the language and practice of music therapy becomes essential.
How to Uphold Children’s Rights?
The book addresses how music therapists can support assessments of what is in the child’s best interest. Numerous factors are outlined and discussed. One concerns understanding the child’s own viewpoint—and how music therapists, through their practice, can help children and young people express their thoughts and wishes regarding their own situation. Music therapy creates a space—a safe place—for young people to express themselves, be heard, and thus influence decisions that affect them. The authors elaborate on the importance of attending to the child’s identity and provide examples from music therapy theories and projects. Cultural sensitivity and humility are emphasized, along with the importance of recognizing children’s idiosyncratic musical identities, gender identities, ethnicity, cultural values, and more.
Separate sections are devoted to cultural sensitivity, family and relationships, the importance of care, protection, and safety, as well as health and education. Under each theme, relevant music therapy experiences are presented—many demonstrating that music therapy inherently involves child-centered and rights-supportive practices. Important discussions address how to safeguard the child’s best interest in potentially conflict-filled situations, illustrated through constructed case examples showing conflicting interests.
Sociocultural and Relational Perspectives
The reader is introduced to relevant music therapy traditions, including resource-oriented and culture-centered approaches, community music therapy, and trauma-informed practice. In presenting music therapy in child mental health, references are made to analytical and clinical approaches, as well as examples from family-centered music therapy. All chapters draw on research and practice in music therapy that clearly and directly relate to children’s rights. The picture is further expanded through insights from critical childhood studies and posthumanist thinking.
A Range of Practice Settings
The book provides examples from many practice settings where the obligations of the Convention are well supported through music therapy. These include various family constellations—traditional families as well as foster care, adoption, and institutional placements. Music therapist Maren Metell contributes a chapter on music therapy in educational and cultural contexts. She also draws on the 2007 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which grants children with disabilities additional protections and the right to receive the same opportunities as other children. Metell highlights a critical issue concerning the right of children with disabilities to musical opportunities and education with musical (rather than solely therapeutic) aims.
Other practice areas discussed include mental health and wellbeing, pediatric care for children, adolescents, and their families. Again, examples from practice and research support the value of music-based interventions or identify areas where more research is needed. One chapter focuses specifically on ethical aspects of research related to the child’s best interest.
Summary Measures
The authors summarize child-centered music therapy in several key points. They argue that music therapy, both through its historical roots and extensive practices, plays an important role in promoting children’s rights and acting in accordance with what is in their best interest. Such music therapy requires critical reflection on roles and practices that challenge paternalistic attitudes that may overshadow or silence children’s voices and resources. A child-centered practice demands the ability to listen carefully to children’s needs and advocate for systemic changes that support children’s rights. The authors stress the importance of involving children in situations where they are assessed or evaluated—especially by allowing the child’s perspective to emerge through participatory action research.
Finally, an appendix presents a set of guidelines for implementing a music therapy approach based on the child’s interests—the Best Interest Determination Process (BID). It outlines the contributions music therapy can make, along with suggestions for measures to further promote this work.
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