This article critically discusses young service users’ participation rights and participation processes in residential group care concerning the challenges, requirements, and opportunities that such a form of organised participation entails for them. A comparative analysis of findings from two qualitative studies from Germany and Switzerland is an empirical basis. Experiences of lived, negotiated, or subtle struggles for the participation of children and youth in everyday institutional life are presented. Identified resistant practices of children and youth, which are of great importance to them, deviate from the usual organisational and normative requirements for participation. The article closes a vital research gap: It presents young people's strategies for dealing with organised and sometimes tokenistic participation. The focus on the self-will of the young actors offers the possibility of supplementing a frequently normative discourse about securing children´s rights in alternative care without making the lifeworld of the young service users and their views a starting point for interventions and legal interpretations. Moreover, the results of both research projects indicate that participation in the everyday life of young people in residential care organisations entails special requirements and challenges, which will be presented here in more detail.