According to the text, self-determination is respect for a client’s own choices. The reason this is difficult to do when working with children's is that they don't understand that their environment may be harmful to them and might think their situation is normal and the same with other families. For example, a child, who needs to be removed from an abusive household, might prefer to be with their family than some random stranger.
For example, in the book, "The Glass Castle", which is based on a true story, the children in the book were lived in very poor conditions, were barely fed by their parents, and were also neglected by their parents, but the children never seek out help because their father constantly told that child protective services