In this project, I investigate how advocates for citizen participation try to make more room for it within their own care organisation. I investigate how various views on what participation is – or what it should be – converge within participation processes in long-term elderly care in the Netherlands. I base myself on an ethnographic study in which I followed two care organisations for a long period of time while they gave substance to their policy ambition to create space for citizen participation. For two and a half years, I observed both ‘internal’ consultations and meetings with participating citizens, and spoke with the various parties involved in these processes. I show how established boundaries in health care are challenged during this process, but also the vulnerability of participatory processes – even when they can count on broad support.