A growing interest in children's participation has led to an increased need for methods for communicating with children. Empirical knowledge on ways to secure children's participation in encounters with welfare professionals and in decisions regarding their life is, however, scarce. One example of a practice model intended to enable children's participation is ‘Good Dialogues’. Presenting results from an evaluation study of the feasibility and practical use of the Good Dialogues model, this article explores the ways in which practitioners manage to put the agenda of child-centred and child-guided dialogues with children underpinning this model into practice. The ways in which children's participation is undermined are also discussed as well as the need for further knowledge development.