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This paper focuses on how immigrant women experience and negotiate their everyday life with children prior to and after leaving a violent partner. Twenty‐three women staying at domestic violence and abuse shelters with their children were interviewed about their experiences with assistance services and their everyday life with their children. At the time of the interviews, most of the women were legally separated or divorced and were either living in or in touch daily with shelters. In this paper, we look at some of the challenges that women face when exposed to violence in a relationship that involves children. Being exposed to violence from a partner raises a number of economic, practical, and emotional concerns, both prior to and after leaving. For the mothers in our study, maintaining a regular routine is key to making the children feel safe in an unpredictable setting. For many, economic dependence on the partner is replaced with economic dependence on assistance services after leaving the partner. Services must recognize that providing help to mothers who have left a violent partner constitutes more than just practical support but is crucial for mothers' ability to re‐establish a predictable everyday life with their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Sibling relationships are potentially central in children's and young people's lives. Research has shown that the quality of sibling relationships changes in a variety of ways when a sibling(s) moves into care. There is limited understanding of the mechanisms that cause these changes. This study addresses this gap by reanalysing a dataset of 25 semistructured interviews with young people (16 to 23 years) drawn from a municipality in Southern Norway. The original study explored the changes in sibling relationships when the young person moved into care. This reanalysis of the data set explores specifically, using a template analysis, the mechanisms that children describe when exploring why these changes occur. Findings show the intricacies of the young person's social identification with the biological and/or foster family and how sharing a common identity may be key to the development of the sibling relationship when the young person(s) is taken into care. Our findings also show how key adults, such as foster parents and social workers, influence the relationship. The paper concludes with recommendations for social workers on how they may strengthen sibling relationships in families where children have been taken into care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing numbers of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning (LGBTQ) people are becoming foster parents in several western countries. The LGBTQ perspective on the child welfare system has received little attention in practice, research and policy. Despite their increased rights, LGBTQ foster parents continue to face challenges related to fostering. Knowledge is needed on LGBTQ individual perceptions of the process of becoming foster parents, including barriers and facilitating factors. This paper reports on the experiences of 13 gay or lesbian foster parents in Norway. The study shows a lack of knowledge about the possibility of becoming foster parents due to lack of information directed at them as a minority group. Participants felt vulnerable and experienced "minority stress" before encountering the child welfare system, while mainly experienced the encounter with the staff as good and respectful. Although several valued being treated "like everyone else" by the system, others questioned why LGBTQ‐specific parenting issues were not raised and discussed. Apart from lack of information, the process towards foster parenting seemed mostly hampered by participants' own assumptions that sexual identity would be a barrier and to some extent biological parents' refusal. The study suggests that foster care and child welfare services would benefit from information in recruitment of foster parents, aiming at being more inclusive. Furthermore, we address gender and sexuality diversity related to foster care work and highlight the strengths and challenges it may offer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public policies encourage the service system to work in new ways to promote health and increase social equality. This paper presents four categories that show the character of the low-threshold services in Norwegian family centres from the professionals' and parents' perspectives, focusing on accessibility and participation: easy access, low level of bureaucracy, collaborative competences and inclusive arena. This paper is based on an inductive study in three municipalities that have chosen to establish family centres as interdisciplinary co-located services that aim to offer low-threshold services for children and their families. Data were generated through a fieldwork, and participatory observation and interviews were the main source of data. The methodological framework for the analysis was grounded theory, in which the data generation and analysis interchanged throughout the study, and theoretical sampling set the focus for the fieldwork. Exploring the actor's perspective highlighted both strengths and challenges with the low-threshold services in the family centres. The four elements presented emphasize that the value of these low-threshold services are not found in one single hallmark; rather, the value depends on an interaction between different elements that must be addressed when establishing, evaluating and developing low-threshold services in family centres. [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]

Services providing support for children and families are often described as fragmented and more concerned with the boundaries of their fields of responsibility than collaborating with other sectors. To meet the need for greater collaboration, there is increased impetus for establishing interdisciplinary services, such as family centres. This paper presents the results of a qualitative study based on in‐depth interviews and participant observation in 3 Norwegian family centres. The findings provide insight into central challenges in developing new practices within the field of family support; we discuss how intersectorial collaboration is constructed in relation to the core objectives of the family centre, professional competence, and service stability. This study demonstrates that both managers and professionals struggle with prioritizing intersectorial work, which mainly focuses on prevention and health promotion, over and above their traditional sectoral responsibilities. It also illustrates the necessity of articulating intersectorial collaboration as an explicit aim and exploring its implications and examining how this contributes to family centres building supportive communities. Building integrated services is not the ultimate goal of this particular form of service provision but rather the first step towards building interconnected support systems for all children in the community. [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]

This paper examines the discretionary reasoning of the judiciary in three jurisdictions, England, Germany and Norway, in cases deciding whether a newborn child is safe with her parents or intervention is necessary. Our analysis focuses on one specific dimension of decision makers' exercise of discretion, namely, if and how the strengths and weaknesses of the mother are considered. The data material consists of all decisions concerning care orders of newborns from one large city in Germany from 2015 to 2017 (n = 27) and 2016 in Norway (n = 76) and all publicly available newborn removal decisions in England for 2015–2017 (n = 14). The findings reveal a high number of risk factors in the cases and less focus on risk‐reducing factors. The situation of the newborn is considered to be harmful, as most cases result in a care order. Judicial discretion differs by how much information, and what types of factors, are included in the justification for the decision. A learning point for decision makers and policymakers would be to actively undertake a balancing act between risk‐increasing and risk‐reducing factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how women who experienced severe adjustment problems during adolescence, and who had troubled childhoods in families with high levels of conflict, construct their self‐conceptions as mothers. Applying data from a 30‐year‐long follow‐up study, this paper examines how participants with troubled upbringings experience social norms of motherhood. Two overall themes emerged along with their associated subcategories, and these are identified as significant findings. The first theme is the stigmatizing gaze, exemplifying how the intervention of the child welfare service is recognized as essential to the women's self‐conception; its three subcategories are prejudiced motherhood, predestined motherhood and self‐critical motherhood. The second theme is significant relationships, exemplifying the mothers' personal bonds and contributing greatly to their self‐conception; its three subcategories are the other half, next of kin and disturbed relations. The findings reveal that the way these women view themselves as mothers cannot be separated from the way that others view them, and in addition, they must negotiate their positions as mothers through the normative discourses of motherhood. The findings apply to both theoretical and practical social work, addressing the need for an understanding of motherhood within the field of child welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collaboration and conversations are important in meeting vulnerable children's needs in the context of Child Welfare Services (CWS). Building on 10 qualitative interviews with parents of children in Norwegian Child Welfare Services, this paper discusses parents' views on collaboration between children and child welfare professionals. The parents stated that a constructive collaborative relationship depends on professionals' attitudes towards the child, their ability to connect with the child and their awareness of how the child's emotions and how the parents influence the child–professional relationship. A collaborative relationship is essential for child welfare professionals to meet the child's needs and to help improve relations between the child and the parents. The parents asked for more collaboration between children and child welfare professionals. The findings call for more discussion of child welfare workers' tasks and competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relations between the Norwegian Child Welfare Services (CWS) and various migrant groups are notably strained. Numerous media accounts and a growing body of research reveal that many migrants to Norway fear the CWS. By combining quantitative and qualitative analyses of media accounts, this paper addresses the historical evolvement of such strained relations in Norway. Previous research has neglected this aspect. Findings show that migration issues related to the CWS have been topics of public debate in Norway for three decades, with foster care being a particularly intractable concern. With the onset of the decade beginning in 2010, however, matters have intensified and taken on transnational dimensions. In the discussion of our findings, we emphasize in particular how digital and social media have contributed to the recent changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic violence continues to be a serious social problem and represents a challenge for those who are exposed to it and those in public services. In Norway, a variety of services are provided to help victims of domestic violence and improve knowledge among professionals who meet with adults and children exposed to domestic violence. Studies in Norway show that families with immigrant backgrounds are overrepresented among social service users as a result of domestic violence. However, contextualized knowledge to provide background information about this overrepresentation is limited. This paper explores women's need for support and their experience with service providers when faced with difficult and unpredictable situations, namely, escaping from violence and leaving home with no financial resources or limited supportive network and turning to service providers for support. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 18 women who were staying in or were in touch with shelters with their children or alone. Five central themes emerged in the analysis of these interviews: (a) help becoming a burden; (b) timely economic measures; (c) economic support and domestic violence; (d) displaced focus; and (e) flexibility and the victim's background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child welfare removals of children are among the most invasive decisions a state can make toward its citizens, and typically it is the courts that make these decisions. These interventions are regularly exposed to criticism. In this paper, we examine if and how care order proceedings could be improved in England, Finland, Norway, and California, USA. We have asked the judiciary decision‐makers about their view on what should be improved. Our findings show that the organization of the proceedings, including time and staff, are identified as issues in all four systems. Furthermore, the preparations by the child welfare agency are also mentioned as an issue, for English, Finnish, and Californian decision‐makers. Very few decision‐makers indicate features related to the individual, situational, and contextual dimensions, which is interesting since this would be expected from organization theory. The strong call for change in the way proceedings are organized indicates a need for modernization as well as better use of available competency from child development experts. The respondents focus on the elements that a decision‐maker has direct experience with and knowledge about, and this is indeed worth noting for policymakers in the four systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within Northern Europe, gendered roles and responsibilities within the family have been challenged through an emergence of different family forms, increasing cultural diversity, and progressive developments in welfare policies. To varying degrees, welfare policies in different countries support a dual‐earner model and encourage men to be more active as fathers by reinforcing statutory rights and responsibilities. In child welfare practice, there has traditionally been a strong emphasis on the mother as primary carer for the child; the father has been less visible. This paper explores, in four national welfare contexts, how child welfare social workers include fathers in practice decisions. Data were collected using focus group interviews with social workers from England, Ireland, Norway, and Sweden. Similarities and differences emerge in relation to services and the focus of social work assessments. However, overall, the research suggests that despite gains in policy and legislation that promote gender equality, fathers remain largely absent in child welfare practice decisions about the parenting of their children. From the research, we raise questions for social work practice and the development of welfare policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper analyses the narratives of adolescents who have experienced domestic violence. It focuses on what we can learn about being an adolescent who experiences domestic violence, using a narrative approach. Attentive to both form and content, the paper sheds light on why the narrative is being told, who the actors in the narratives are, who are positioned in the forefront/background and what the point of the narrative is. The analysis shows that through the storytelling, the father's position as the reluctant/dangerous/weak aggressor is negotiated, the mother is positioned both in the background as a victim and in the forefront as an actor resisting his violent behaviour. The children position themselves as actors with power to alter the progress, to protect and stop the violence. The point of the narratives is to describe the father as the aggressor, and to describe the important role of the children. This picture of the father, mother and child questions the traditional understanding of the father as the aggressor, the mother as the victim and the child as a powerless bystander being exposed to the violence, and underlines the complexities of the dynamics in families living with domestic violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper examines parents' legal argumentation in 15 appealed care order (child removal) cases in one Norwegian district court, asking on what grounds parents appeal their case. I investigate the pragmatic, ethical, and moral bases in arguments by applying a discourse ethics framework, viewing argumentation as either justifications or excuses of the parenting in question. The analysis reveals complex reasons for appealing, displaying parents both justifying and excusing both specific situations and the totality of their parenthood. Parents primarily apply pragmatic and ethical adversarialism, followed by pragmatic blaming and claims of change, moral justifications about due process, and ethical excuses about age and own life histories. Interestingly, normalization emerges as a third strategy, where parents explicitly aim to widen the scope of parental normality and adequacy, challenging the common defense dichotomy. The study provides new insight into an important and sensitive field, and indicates that parents engage in similar concrete strategies when, most often unsuccessfully, defending their parenthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Using aggregated national data, this paper compares outcomes of Australian 'child protection' (CP) and Norwegian 'child welfare services' (CWS). We highlight each nation's context and key elements of their CP/CWS organizations, with emphasis on policy and programme orientation. System outcomes are examined along with the implications of their different approaches. The main policy focus in Australia is protection and risk, while Norway's systemic approach stresses prevention, early intervention and support. These differences influence practitioner's intervention strategies and how the needs of children and parents are met. In Norway, approximately 80% of the children in the CWS receive some sort of supportive services. In contrast, Australian services for supporting families are narrowly targeted. Both countries share the 'best interest of the child' principle and an increased focus on children's rights, and have experienced increased service demands and rates of children in out-of-home care. The paper explores the relative merits of these systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper presents the findings of an exploratory study on parenting in the midst of suspicion of child sexual abuse (CSA). Data were drawn from in-depth interviews with 19 parents. Five of these had been accused of CSA. Study methods followed guidelines of grounded theory approaches. Specific parenting conditions during CSA suspicion were identified. Six analytic categories were developed: uncertainty concerning abuse, dilemmas on protection, changes in parent-child relationships, changes in the natural support network, dependency upon professional competence and severe emotional strain. The results are suggested as a tool for identifying themes in order to support and strengthen parenting in ensuring the safety and well-being of children in these kinds of situations. The current paper contributes to the field by exploring the perspectives of both suspected and non-suspected parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women's refuges were established in Norway in the late 1970s by and for women. From the very outset, abused women have also brought their children to the refuges. With an increasing political, practical and research focus on the situation of children exposed to violence, the Norwegian refuge movement today is expected to apply both the woman's and the child's perspective in their work. By analysing the discourse of children staying at women's refuges, this paper discusses and sheds light on situations where the two perspectives come into conflict and the implications of these conflicts for the children and for the women's refuge movement as a whole. [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]

Understanding the dynamics of custodial conflicts is important for reducing the level of such conflicts and improving the upbringing conditions for the children involved. The parents in these cases care for children living in two households, and our approach therefore draws on the knowledge of how ‘ordinary’ parents proceed in sharing care within and between locations. The paper is based on qualitative interviews with 15 Norwegian parents who were in contact with the child protection service during their custodial disagreements, indicating a high level of conflict and concerns about inadequate care. When describing and reflecting upon their practices of care, the parents speak from two main positions: as a concerned parent or an accused parent. These positions imply different approaches on how to share care, which offer insight into the mechanisms of getting stuck. Although the concerned parent worries about the child's well‐being while staying with the other parent and thereby aims to take a continuous responsibility across households, the accused parent perceives the co‐parent's involvement as undue and negotiates increased distance in parenting. Focusing on practices of care may contribute to turning the attention away from conflicts between former partners and towards the child's situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how enhanced support for foster parents, such as covering fees and providing consultants and relief, may reduce the number of replacements experienced by children in foster care. It also investigates the extent to which replacements are associated with family (kin) vs. non‐family foster parents, or with legal characteristics of the placement (i.e. forced administrative decisions vs. relief measures agreed upon by the parents). Statistical analyses of administrative data from Norway investigated the longitudinal relationships between these characteristics and the number of replacements at two levels – children (N = 16 109) and municipalities (N = 418) – over 5 years (2007–2011). The results reveal modest associations between enhanced support and fewer replacements; for example, replacement rates are lower for children placed in homes of kin than in non‐family homes. Replacements also tend to be fewer when the placement is forced rather than consensual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from a national survey (n = 6979) of young people in their last year in Norwegian secondary schools in 2007 (aged 18–19), this paper explores the relationship between sexual abuse and experiences of violence among young people in Norway and their reporting of suicidal ideation and self‐harm. This investigation includes three types of abuse experienced by young people: non‐physical, physical and sexual. We investigate suicidal ideation and two types of self‐harming behaviour: non‐suicidal self‐injury and suicidal self‐injury. The analyses that are reported involve descriptive analysis, chi‐square and t‐tests, and logistic regression. The hypothesis that was confirmed by the analysis was that being subject to sexual abuse or other violence was associated with increased risk of self‐harm. The hypothesis that was partially supported by the analysis was that violence experienced during childhood would have more effect on suicidal ideation and self‐harm than violence experienced at a later age. Contrary to our expectations, it was found that peer bullying has a stronger effect on young people's suicidal ideation and self‐harming behaviours than sexual abuse or physical violence. The implications of these findings for practitioners working with children and youth involve raising awareness about the long‐term effects of verbal, physical, sexual and witnessed abuse. [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]

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]

ABSTRACT This paper analyses child welfare workers' perceptions of ethnic minority children in England and Norway based on in-depth interviews with 52 child welfare workers in 2008. We employ a child-centric theoretical framework to explore up to what extent workers focus on minority children in their perceptions. We found that about half of our study participants ( n= 27) did so, and many more in Norway than England. They perceived many risks and problems for minority children related to their ethnicity, including children's biculturalism and language skills, parenting methods, unequal treatment and racism, lack of social inclusion, and problems in school. Norwegian workers displayed a broad needs perception and embraced a change-orientated perspective and held parents accountable for their children's educational success and social inclusion. English workers had a narrower approach, focusing on protecting children. We discuss how the cross-country differences may be related to different welfare state and child welfare paradigms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Placing children in out-of-home care constitutes one of the strongest public interventions in families. This paper explores how Norwegian Child Welfare Service (CWS) workers present their reasons as well as their work processes in the course of deciding to place children in out-of-home care. The analysis is based on interviews with 83 social workers and concerns 109 children recently removed from their homes. Three central elements were identified in the social workers' accounts: (1) a description of worrying conditions in the family; (2) the workers' long-term back-and-forth process, which revolved around experiences from the case, particularly around interactions with the parents; and (3) a triggering factor that made the out-of-home placement take place when it did. These elements underline the need to include both substance (conditions related to the child and his/her family) and procedure (conditions related to the work on the case) to understand what leads CWS to removing children. Both types of conditions put the parents, rather than the children, in the centre of the workers' attention, which may be explained by the position and role of the CWS workers as street-level bureaucrats. The findings emphasize the importance of acknowledging the contradictory position of CWS workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I examine the nature of social pedagogy, a discipline with deep roots in Continental Europe but not in the UK. Things are changing, however. The politicians in Westminster are listening to the people at the Thomas Coram Research Unit in London. The message is unequivocal. It is time to learn from social pedagogical approaches to working with looked-after children in other European countries. Why is this? The government wants to prepare an early years professional who can combine the skills of a social worker with those of an educator. Based on case studies of successful approaches to improving the well-being of looked-after children in Denmark, France and Germany, the Thomas Coram researchers have found a child care professional who can pull this off: the social pedagogue. As a professor of social pedagogy in a Norwegian university that educates social pedagogues, I want to shed light on a discipline that might help British stakeholders in child care settings to draw selective lessons from a promising Nordic model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article questions the way in which Norwegian immigration officials apply the principle of the child's best interests in cases concerning family reunion for unaccompanied asylum seeking minors in Norway. It is claimed that the official definition of child migrants and the interpretation of what is in their best interest does not take the child's background and circumstances into account with sufficient detail and sensitivity. This paper further discusses the bureaucratic procedures that turn an individual child with individual interests into a judicial and generalized prototype that appears to have the same interests as the immigration authorities. Thus the combination of a culture-blind and context-free consideration of an abstract child's best interests primarily serves to justify increasing restriction of family reunion for child migrants, and thereby serves the state's best interest at the cost of the individual child. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Within the context of Norwegian Child Welfare Services, children's best interests are often promoted through inter‐professional collaboration. Although children have the right and desire to participate, research reveals that professionals do not listen to them. On the basis of qualitative interviews with 10 children about their experiences collaborating with professionals, we have identified ways in which professionals can facilitate children's participation. The findings show that trusting relationships, emotional support, and pedagogical approaches increase children's participation in their interactions with professionals. The results show the importance of including a relational understanding of participation as a theoretical concept in child welfare and an awareness that power and dominance are in play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If children in child protection cannot be cared for by their natural parents, should they be adopted or live in foster home? Results from a study of representative samples of populations (n = 12 330), in eight European countries—Austria, England, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Norway and Spain—and California, USA, reveal that people would recommend adoption over foster care, if a child in public care cannot grow up with their natural parent(s). There are cross‐country differences between populations, and examining if institutional context such as type of child protection system explains differences, we find that child maltreatment‐oriented systems are more supportive of adoption than other types of systems. Citizens having little confidence in the child protection system were only weakly correlated with preference for adoption. In conclusion, people prefer adoption as placement options for children in care are more than foster homes, and possible this finding reflects a sort of refamalialization of children into the private sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disabled young people leaving care often experience a more complex transition to adulthood than other youths. Still, policy and services can fail to recognize the intersection between a young person's care experiences and disability. Drawing on data from a qualitative interview study with 14 social workers who work with aftercare in the Norwegian child welfare services, we investigate social workers' professional judgements about support for this subgroup of the leaving care population. Our analysis uses the theoretical construct of institutional logics and shows that social workers did not include concepts of disability in their judgements about support for these young people. Instead, the social workers' considerations were guided by three other organizing principles: a 'medical logic', an 'activation logic' and an 'aftercare logic'. We discuss these findings in light of critical disability studies and argue for a more nuanced understanding of disability in social work practice with care leavers. Highlighting disability rights and going beyond diagnosis and categorisations of disabled people can challenge a medical model approach to service provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In child welfare policies, as in contemporary society in general, great attention has been given to parenting roles and investing in 'positive' parenting practices. Several studies have suggested that socio‐economic factors frame parenting practices. There is broad evidence of a significant correlation between socio‐economic inequalities and child welfare intervention rates. Nevertheless, few studies have investigated parenting practices in a child welfare population. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between socio‐economic status (SES) and parenting practices in a Norwegian child welfare population. The study was based on a cross‐sectional survey conducted in 2018–2019. The sample consisted of 256 parents (71.5% females). Linear regression analysis, adjusting for potential confounding and intermediate factors, was conducted. Lower SES was associated with higher levels of positive parenting/involvement practices (b = 0.146, CI: 0.026–0.266, P = 0.018), indicating an inverse pattern compared with the general population. When adjusting for symptoms of anxiety and depression, the association was slightly attenuated but remained statistically significant. No significant association was found between SES and inconsistent discipline/other disciplinary practices. The present study offers insights that should be useful in practice and further large‐scale studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How is expert evidence used in care order proceedings when children are considered for foster care placement because of familial violence? What are important factors and how do the decision‐makers use and evaluate evidence from specialists and experts? In this in‐depth analysis of 104 published care order decisions from the Norwegian County Boards, I investigate how decision‐makers use and evaluate evidence from expert witnesses to determine whether a care order may be granted. The analysis shows that the evidence largely revolves around social functioning, care context and topics about how parents and children relate to each other. Led by the law, the decision‐makers use this evidence to determine whether the child's situation is harmful, whether support services are viable and whether a care order is in the child's best interests. I find that decision‐makers draw unevenly on evidence with regards to these legal requirements, and that the use predominantly defers to expert authority. However, there is also evidence of independent reasoning, where deferral to the epistemic authority of the experts is weakened. This is shown through evaluative and critical assessments and scrutiny of the disciplinary evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative case study aimed to explore environmental circumstances and interactional processes that appeared to be relevant for the dynamics of resilience in adolescents exposed to child abuse. Fieldwork at a learning and coping centre for children and their families was combined with semi‐structured interviews with adolescent participants aged 12 to 18 years. A critical realist approach was used to unpack what has been called the 'ordinary magic' of resilience. We found that intensively validating qualities of both the environment and relationships seemed to be driving components for resilience. Borrowing ideas from the sociometer theory, we propose that particularly the consistent intensiveness may offer a recalibration of the adolescents' immediate life‐worlds, in terms of how they perceive the people they meet and the environments they step into. In keeping with the transactional‐ecological model of resilience, we suggest that such a recalibration leads to altered social agency that becomes visible through their immediate social participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the transition of cooperative co‐parenting during the divorce process. Eighteen parents, representing eight co‐parenting pairs and two individuals who had just undergone mandatory mediation for parents applying for separation, participated in the study. Through in‐depth interviews with parents who were classified as cooperative during the mediation process, we examined how they reason and the struggles they face during the divorce transition. The study applied a sociocultural perspective, focusing on the cultural ideals of equal parenthood, and used the concepts of boundaries and shared care as analytical tools. A main finding is that maintaining cooperative co‐parenting requires hard work, even in no‐or low‐conflict divorces, but the parents do it for their children. The results showed that the transforming process involved efforts to (1) continue established parenting practices, (2) shield the children and (3) deal with their own emotions. The underlying premises for successful co‐parenting are trust in each other's ability to take care of the children and their own knowledge of the emotional bonds between the children and each parent. In turn, these premises motivate parents to manage their own emotional turmoil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to explore what worries youth were having during the seventh to ninth week of the COVID‐19 lockdown. Our findings build on the responses to an open‐ended survey question from 1314 youths. The worries covered three main themes: 'That my mom dies, then I am left all alone': worries related to COVID‐19 virus infection; 'To me, this is lost youth': worries about the consequences of measures for the present life and near future; and 'I will face a very difficult life in the future': worries about the consequences of measures for the outlook on life. Young people worried that the measures would have a huge impact on their present life and outlook on life. The costs of restriction measures were unevenly distributed and indicated that the measures affected their mental health. Listening to youth voices during the pandemic is important for practitioners, educators and policymakers. The results indicate that the threshold for closing schools also including the provision of distance learning should be kept high. Social and health services for youth should offer early intervention and be prepared for an escalation in mental health problems in the imminent future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Youth within the child welfare system (CWS) have often experienced adverse life events, and many need support from health services. This study aimed to compare mental health problems and health service use among adolescents receiving in‐home services (IHS), living in foster care (FC) and general population youth (GP). Data stem from the youth@hordaland survey, a population‐based study of adolescents (N = 10,257, age 16–19) conducted in 2012 in Hordaland County, Norway. The adolescents provided self‐reported data on CWS contact, health service use, adverse life events and multiple instruments assessing mental health problems. The IHS and FC groups had significantly higher symptom scores across most mental health measures than peers from the GP. Youth receiving IHS had significantly higher scores on measures of general internalizing and externalizing problems, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and depression compared with peers in FC. Those receiving IHS reported the highest health service use. Adverse life events accounted for a substantial part of the differences between the groups. Mental health problems are frequent among older adolescents within the CWS, especially among youth receiving IHS. Service providers and policymakers should be aware of the present and likely continued challenges faced by many of these youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Care leavers need support in the transition to adulthood. Care leavers in Norway benefit from the universalistic and somewhat generous Nordic welfare model. However, this model is constructed to meet general needs identified in the whole population. More specific needs in smaller groups may not be so well planned for. The article discusses this dilemma in the light of two previously published articles by the author and two co‐authors, where the topics are the history of leaving care support in Norway and how the Nordic welfare model may represent a problematic frame for leaving care support. The 'parental functions' of child welfare and social services are discussed and so is the connection between the welfare model's ability to cover up for the needs of the many versus the few and vulnerable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The measurement of user experience has gained international attention as a tool for improving quality of care. Because foster families have a high need for service support, we examined quality of care from the foster parent's perspective and associated characteristics. We collected information about type and frequency of service use in the last 2 years and standardized measures of user‐reported experiences and outcomes from foster parents of youths aged 11–18 years in Norway (N = 290). We analysed the data using descriptive statistics, independent samples t‐tests and multiple regressions. Overall, foster parents had positive service experiences, and around half reported improvement in youth condition and function compared with before the service contact. The foster parents gave similar evaluations of child welfare services and specialized mental health services but indicated different strengths and weaknesses of the providers. Younger age, more frequent service contact and less waiting time were associated with positive service experiences, while less mental health problems and fewer years in current foster home were related to positive perceptions of outcomes. Our results indicate focus areas for increasing quality of care from the user perspective, for example, sharing information, cooperation between services, having frequent enough service contact and reducing waiting time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction to the article "Recurrence, eruptions, and a transnational turn: Three decades of strained relations between migrants to Norway and the Child Welfare Services" is presented.

This article elucidates the challenges parents face when they lose the care of their children and their experiences of family counselling as a support service in Norway. A qualitative study following five mothers and one father whose children were in care was conducted through two focus groups and six individual interviews. The study found that the parents struggled to understand why their children had been placed in care and felt disempowered by the Child Protection Services (CPS). This situation led to complicated relationships with the CPS. We drew upon positioning theory and Goffman's theories about stigma and identity in this study, and these theories are explicitly used in discussing our analytic results. The study reveals the challenges encountered by CPS due to their dual role: On the one hand, they remove the children, and on the other, they offer support. The parents in this study also received assistance from the Family Counselling Services. Important results of this study are the parents' experiences of the two systems and, in particular, the different positions the systems seemed to place them in. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to account for and discuss support to young care leavers within the comparable welfare regimes of Norway and Sweden and to explore key differences between these 2 countries. This model implies that children and young people are included and entitled to support through being family members, not as independent actors in their own right. This makes young care leaver's transition from care to adulthood problematic—as they often do not have access to family support, they may be positioned in a vacuum where they are clients neither entitled to support from the child welfare system nor supported by their families of origin. In Norway, legislators and policymakers have agreed that care leavers need particular attention and targeted support, whereas in Sweden, there has been no such agreement. However, the Norwegian system of giving leaving care services is not strong enough to provide transition support to all care leavers, even if the legislation gives stronger protection than in Sweden. The article discusses the need for targeted measures of support for a successful care‐leaving process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Evaluating the participatory opportunities for service users within social welfare institutions is a pressing issue. In this article, we explore a group of ethnic minority parents' experiences with child welfare services (CWS) in Norway. A strong narrative theme was deficiency positioning—how lacking a Norwegian normative set of knowledge and skills challenged the parents' opportunities to participate. We analysed how deficiency positioning was perceived, negotiated, and contested in the parents' accounts, and 4 themes emerged: (a) learning to parent, (b) contesting expert knowledge, (c) learning to be a client, and (d) constructing CWS deficiency. Nancy Fraser's concept of “participatory parity” was applied to explore how current institutional structures may enable and limit parents' participation. The analysis provides insight into agencies and informants' sense‐making processes as well as the diverse resources and strategies that parents draw upon in the CWS encounter. Furthermore, we argue that an interplay between a strong focus on “parenting skills” and bureaucratic and economic structures positions ethnic minority parents as deficient, thus providing powerful mechanisms for marginalization. Implications for case work and institutional levels are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article explores young people's experiences in the transition to adulthood from child welfare services and how Honneth's theory of recognition can be useful as an analytical tool to help us understand these experiences. The underpinning empirical research consisted of interviews and focus groups with 43 adolescents who had been in contact with Norwegian child welfare services. Three themes emerged as particularly important: having good relationships to caring adults, being listened to and able to influence their own lives, and receiving support and encouragement. The research shows how young people's difficulties in leaving care can be understood as experiences of misrecognition and points to some ways in which these can be overcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizens' opinions on child protection public policy are a key dimension of the legitimacy of a political order. We have conducted a survey vignette on a representative sample of citizens ( N = 4,003) in England, Finland, Norway, and California, USA. The findings show that citizens' opinions are clearly in favour of adoption (75%) rather than long-term foster care (25%). Context may partly explain the findings, as the responses of the majority of Anglo-American respondents are in line with practice in their countries but for the Nordic respondents, there is a substantial discrepancy between citizens' opinions and on-going child protection practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite long‐standing knowledge about child welfare clients' educational disadvantage, we know less about the individuals' progress through the educational system. Based on Norwegian data, this study examined educational transitions following compulsory school and the first 3 years of upper secondary school, which correspond approximately to the transition following middle school/junior high school to the first years of high school in the USA. It is argued that in examining educational success in the child welfare population it is necessary to analyse whether child welfare clients follow the academic or vocational track. In addition, the degree to which educational transitions are related to gender, school performance and parental education was examined. Child welfare clients' educational transitions were compared with those of a comparison sample from the general population. The analyses show that after completing compulsory school, child welfare clients most often begin in the vocational track and that they often drop out of school. This tendency is largely related to low school performance and low parental education. In addition, child welfare clients' successful transitions are somewhat lower in the vocational than in the academic track and decrease during upper secondary school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parenting may be particularly challenging for substance‐dependent mothers who have grown up with parents who themselves had substance use disorders (SUDs). The aim of this study was to explore how substance‐dependent mothers describe their childhood experiences with substance‐abusing parents and the association between these earlier experiences and their own role as caregivers. Using purposeful sampling, mothers admitted for 1 year to a family ward at a substance abuse clinic were approached. Through in‐depth, qualitative interviews, nine substance‐dependent mothers described their lives in the form of present, past and future tense. The findings indicate that substance‐dependent women, who have experienced SUDs in their families of origin, face several major challenges when they become mothers. Some describe having lived their whole lives ‘on the edge of society'. This makes their rehabilitation process more complex. All mothers work to abstain from substances, process traumatic experiences and integrate their family into society. They need help to build supportive social networks and to establish a safe and predictable family environment for themselves and their children. The therapeutic implications of these findings will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]