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This paper examines the relationship between professional work and standardization. There has been an increase in the use of standardized programmes in child welfare services (CWS) in Western society. Some researchers have criticized standardized programmes suggesting that they undermine professionals expertise and threaten their position, whereas others argue that such programmes strengthen professional practice. In this paper, we examine how standardized tools, in this case, a standardized parenting programme and a standardized Norwegian assessment tool, influence professional roles as experienced by child welfare workers (CWS professionals) in Norway. Semistructured individual and group interviews were conducted with 31 frontline workers in two CWS agencies. Our findings suggest that standardized tools increase the social workers experienced professional competence but challenge their professional knowledge base, reflective practice, and professional accountability. Professional and practical implications for CWS work are discussed in the light of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Siblings are key actors in the social network of young people in care. This paper explores young people's perceptions of changes in the quality of sibling relationships and the pathways relationships follow during the transition from the biological family into care. A thematic analysis of interviews with young Norwegian people (n = 25) in care showed that, in the biological family, sibling relationships are characterized by alliances, parentification, conflicts or nonexistence. After admission to child welfare services care, sibling relationships developed along multiple pathways. Their sibling relationships reshaped into either close and supportive, conflictual or completely broken relationships. Sibling relationships were dynamic, complex, with the pathway, and its impact on well‐being, being unique to each young person. Sibling relationship quality in the biological home did not predict relationship quality after admission to child welfare services. The implications for social worker practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons for unintended placement disruptions in foster care. Based on a semistructured survey, the paper presents the views of 132 Norwegian foster parents who have experienced placement disruption between 2013 and 2015. Foster parents rated several relevant causes of placement disruption: the child's behaviour, the need for care, concern for the well‐being of their biological children, and lack of support from the Child Welfare Service (CWS). Although the child's behaviour was the cause most frequently reported in the quantitative data, CWS‐related factors such as poor collaboration, not being valued and listened to, insufficient support and follow‐up, and a mismatch between the child's needs and the foster carers' capacity were reported most frequently in the qualitative data. Placement disruption appears to be caused by the sum and interaction of several coexisting causes. It may not be the child's behaviour per se but rather the combination of challenging behaviour, concern for one's biological children, and insufficient support from CWS that lead to disruption. Good collaboration with the CWS in the form of respect, recognition, support, and follow‐up appears to be of the utmost importance in reducing the risk of placement disruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies show that client confidentiality can inhibit proper adaptation to emotional work stress, which can affect health and well-being among help service professionals. There is a lack of knowledge on the link between confidentiality and symptoms of ill health. It is likely that confidentiality can be a hidden stressor that modifies coping strategies necessary for healthy adaptation to emotional work demands. The aim of the current paper was to investigate the influence of client confidentiality on different modes of coping among child welfare workers and possible variation according to proximity to clients and years of experience. The study included survey data among all child welfare workers ( n = 142) situated at six office locations in a Norwegian city with a population of >150 000. The analyses included descriptive statistics, t-test, analysis of variance and multiple linear regressions. The results showed that client confidentiality can interfere with a range of coping strategies which are important to reduce stress from emotionally demanding work experiences among child welfare workers. This was prominent among workers with less experience or high proximity to clients. The results imply that confidentiality can interfere with adaptation to work stress, which can affect the health and well-being of child welfare workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how child welfare workers in England, Norway and the USA (California) perceive children's participation building on 91 qualitative interviews. First, analysing the data using Hart's ladder of children's participation, we found that all Norwegian workers perceived children's participation as some form of decision‐making, whereas 40% of English and 35% of US workers embraced views of children's participation that can be considered token or non‐participation. Second, we coded the data for main themes and found that child welfare workers in all three countries perceived children's participation as hearing the child's opinion and information gathering. The themes of age, maturity and ability to form an opinion also emerged from the data. English workers' reflections about children's participation were more nuanced than their Norwegian and US counterparts; and US workers understood children's participation as children providing valuable information during the investigation of a case more frequently than workers in England and Norway. We discuss the implications of these findings on future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to address facilitators for successful interprofessional collaboration (IPC) between social workers (SWs) and teachers. Individual interviews were carried out with seven SWs employed in municipal child welfare services and six teachers from primary and secondary schools. The informants had at least two years' experience within multidisciplinary teams. The transcripts were analysed using an inductive thematic approach and the NVIVO9 computer software package for qualitative data analysis. Thematic analysis revealed three themes: ‘personal commitments’, ‘creating a positive atmosphere for IPC’ and ‘pulling together towards future goals’. Results are discussed in relation to the Norwegian context concerning IPC in multidisciplinary teams for children at risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examine how a sample of 301 child welfare workers in Norway, England and California, USA assess risk in cases of domestic violence. Decisions in child welfare cases are made under a high degree of uncertainty, and by using the vignette method, we explore whether child welfare systems and risk assessment approaches result in different assessment of risk level and substantiations. We find both cross‐country differences and similarities: Norwegian workers consider the risk level to be significantly higher than their peers in England and USA. However, workers' justifications for and identification of decisive factors in the case are strikingly similar across countries. These similarities are observed for both high‐risk and low‐risk assessors, and they may exist due to widespread knowledge about domestic violence and its negative consequences. We argue that the international differences in risk level assessments are due to system differences in the countries studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]