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Purpose Schools can be an arena for age appropriate and objective information about the support families can get from the child protection services (CPS). There is reason to believe that many children have misconceptions about the CPS and are afraid to talk to the social workers who investigates if there is reason to be concerned about a child’s well-being. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of misconceptions about child protection services (CPS) among school children in Norway. Method A questionnaire containing 10 statements that measure children’s misconceptions and attitudes about the CPS was developed and distributed to 215 children aged 11–15 years old (M = 12.2 years). Results The results showed that 10.7% of the sample have a misconception about children being removed from their homes by CPS and that 17% of the sample had a negative perception of the CPS in general. Discussion The child might wrongfully get the impression that it is at risk of being removed from the parents. Participation in assessment and planning may be challenging for a child under such conditions. Therefore, it is important that adults who work with children are aware that these misconceptions are quite common, also among youth. Implications The prevalence of misconceptions about CPS among children in the general population as well as those in contact with CPS indicate a need for age-appropriate information. If such misconceptions are prevented it might be easier for children to reach out for help if they or somebody they know, are subject to abuse or neglect.

In this study, we look at the decision to provide services following a child protection investigation in Norway. More specifically, we want to look at variability at the case level and at the agency level in order to identify factors that may impact a decision to provide services.The study was designed as a cross-sectional archive study that was carried out retrospectively. Included predictors for service provision were presence of abuse, and risk factors related to child, parental and family function. Agency predictors were referral rate and metropolitan location. Variation in service provision was sectioned into case level (N = 883) variation and agency level (N = 16) variation. Five nested multilevel models were estimated. Service provision for families following a child protection investigation was on average 38.4% in the sample. Among the 16 agencies, it varied between 21.9 and 60.0%. This variation is mostly explained by case variables. The strongest were physical abuse (OR = 1.37) and neglect (OR = 1.18). There is evidence for agency differences with respect to the types of cases being referred. Differences in agency thresholds for service provision when controlling for the referral reason seem to be quite small.

This study aimed to compare the content of the Norwegian Kvello AF for child welfare investigations with similar frameworks from Sweden (BBIC) and Denmark (ICS). The comparison was based on detailed descriptions of each framework, retrieved from authorized websites, textbooks, manuals, course material, and, for the Kvello AF, also personal communication with the author. An ecological triangle model similar to the British AF was chosen as a guideline for the comparison, as all three frameworks referred to bio-ecological developmental theory. The content of the frameworks was thus compared along dimensions and categories related to 1) the child’s needs and development, 2) the parents’ capacity, and 3) environmental factors. The main finding was that the Kvello AF included many of the same elements for gathering information as the other frameworks, but there were some important differences. The Kvello AF seemed to have a narrower perspective on the children’s needs and welfare than the other frameworks, implying a stronger focus on the child–parent interaction and a less focus on environmental factors and the child’s functioning outside the family. publishedVersion

Background - When a child welfare service agency receives a report of concern, there is an initial screening to decide whether an investigation needs to be initiated. In addition to the decision maker, case factors, external factors, and organizational factors have an impact on decision making in Child Welfare Services (CWS). Few recent studies have considered the impact of case factors on the initial screening. Objective - This study examined case factors that have an impact on the decision to investigate in the Norwegian CWS. Participants and setting - Participants included randomly drawn samples of case files from 16 agencies (N = 1365). Methods - The study was designed as a cross-sectional case file study. Researchers coded the data on site at the agencies. To examine the association between a decision to investigate and case specific variables, multilevel logistic regression (generalized linear mixed model) analysis was conducted to account for case clustering effects within agencies. Results - The rate of investigation was 82.3 %. Concerns of physical and sexual abuse (OR = 2.61***), parents' health and stressful events (OR = 2.20***), domestic violence or witnessing violence (OR = 2.52***), and concerns related to finances, housing, and employment (OR = 3.25**) lowered the threshold for investigation. Prior referrals were found to raise the threshold for investigation (OR = 0.88). (**p < .01, ***p < .001). Conclusion - Although large differences between agencies exist in decision-making processes in the Norwegian CWS, there are common case factors affecting the initial screening of referrals.

Objectives Child protection referrals that contain information about incidents of physical child abuse, sexual abuse, and domestic violence have a high chance of being screened in for investigation. The aim of the current study is to investigate which case factors that affect the decision to screen-in cases with other types of concerns. Method A sample of referrals (N = 1365) to child protection services in Norway was randomly drawn. Information was collected regarding (i) child and family characteristics, (ii) the content of the referral (iii) the decision to investigate. A structural equation model that describe how case characteristics and the contents of the report influence the screening decision was estimated. Results Non abuse-concerns were grouped in three latent variables. The first consisted of referrals that contained concerns about a wide range of problems related to the child’s health and development. The second consisted of referrals that contained concerns about parental conflicts and child safety. The third consisted of concerns related to different types of family and environmental risk factors. Families with immigrant background have an increased chance of being screened-in, irrespective of referral content. Cases with previous referrals have a decreased chance of being screened-in. Conclusions When controlling for other case factors, more complex referrals with multiple concerns have increased chance of being screened in.

Internationally there has been a movement to reform investigative work in child welfare and protection systems. These reforms have aimed to introduce national frameworks that systematize the way assessments are carried out. Several reports have identified shortcomings in the way that child protection investigations are carried out in Norway. Consequently, there is a need for improvement. However, an attempt to change practice within an organization has little hope of succeeding unless the organization implementing the new practice accepts that a change in practice is needed. The aim of this study was to examine child protection agency managers’ views on the advantages and disadvantages related to implementation of an assessment framework in Norway. Electronic survey questionnaires were distributed to the managers of all Norwegian child protection services. The response rate was 68% (N = 217). The majority agreed that the use of an assessment framework is helpful in child welfare and protection services investigations in general, and helpful in terms of facilitating child and family participation. This study indicates that some prerequisites would need to be present for successful implementation of an assessment framework: training, supervision and ongoing support, and sufficient resources.

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Lauritzen, C., Vis, S.A.M. & Fossum, S. (2018). Factors that determine decision making in child protection investigations: A review of the literature. Child & Family Social Work, 23(4), 743-756, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12446. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. The aim of the study was to conduct a systematic review of the literature on factors that determine decision making in child protection investigations. More specifically, to investigate the existing research on the 4 factors that are considered fundamental for child protection decision making: case characteristics, caseworker characteristics, organizational characteristics, and external factors. The results indicated that child welfare decisions to investigate a case and/or to implement services are influenced by characteristics of the case, the social worker, and the organization, in addition to external factors. These elements work together to determine the outcome of an investigation. There are some substantial differences between various countries connected to disparities in child welfare legislation, support apparatuses, culture, ideology, and socio‐economic factors. It is methodologically challenging to design studies that capture all possible variables associated with case factors, social workers, and organizational factors. However, multilevel analyses of the types of variables that are most significant to case outcome conclude that caseworker assessments corresponded to organizational factors. Furthermore, decisions are better explained by characteristics of the child welfare organization than by characteristics of the social worker.

Source at https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0020872819828333. The primary aim of this study is to summarise research findings about the use of assessment frameworks, that is, structured models that guide information collection and decision making in child protection services, by reviewing the literature. The research review method consisted of identification, selection, coding, categorisation and summary of publications on child protection investigative work. The results indicated that there is some documentation showing that the use of frameworks leads to more information being gathered, a greater focus on the needs of the child and increased involvement of the child during the investigation. One side effect is that the investigative work becomes more extensive and time-consuming.

This is the published version of the following article: Fossum, S., Vis, S.A. & Holtan, A. (2018). Do frequency of visits with birth parents impact children’s mental health and parental stress in stable foster care settings. Cogent Psychology, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311908.2018.1429350. Source at https://doi.org/10.1080/23311908.2018.1429350. Licensed CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. This article explores whether the number of visits by birth parents influence perceptions of attachment, children’s competence and mental health, and stress levels in foster parents. Foster parents acted as informants regarding 203 children living in kinship and non-kinship foster care. The children were young when placed in foster care, on average 2.3 years old (SD = 1.0) and had been living in the foster home for sometime at assessment, 5.4 years (SD = 3.0). Information were collected using validated instruments. The results showed that 47% of the children had monthly or more frequent visits with their mothers, whereas 21% of the fathers had visits this often. Visitations with birth parents did not significantly influence who was the main attachment figure or foster parental attachment relationships, the children’s psychosocial functioning or competence, or stress levels among the foster parents. These findings could indicate that social workers should emphasize the quality and short- and long-term consequences of visits for children when making decisions regarding the frequency of visits with birth parents. This could be done taking the child’s reactions and wishes into account, when evaluating the visit and the frequency of future visits. It is important that decisions concerning visits should be continuously revised in both the short- and the long term, since both wishes and practical aspects may change for all parties involved.

In 2015, a new guidance was issued that sought to clarify the responsibilities and obligations for cooperation between child welfare and mental healthcare services in Norway. This study investigated if the guidance had any impact on the collaboration between services. An electronic survey was administered to employees in the child welfare services and in the child and adolescent mental health services. The response rate was 50.6% ( N = 267). The results show that about one-third of the respondents had never heard about the new guidance. Most of the participants who had heard about the guidance considered it useful, in particular the clarification of duties and responsibilities. Sometimes, however, issues that cannot be solved by regulatory guidance alone hinder cooperation. Chief among these issues are professional disagreements about children’s needs and resource restrictions. Such matters cannot be solved by merely a new guideline.»/>

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Nordic Social Work Research on 14 May 2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/2156857X.2017.1326977. There are several studies conducted on parenting stress, and the conclusion in the parenting stress research literature is generally that parenting stress decreases the quality of the parent-child relationship. There are however few studies on parenting stress comparing kinship homes to ordinary types of foster homes. The aims of this study were to measure parenting stress in kinship and non-kinship foster homes and to explore factors that predict parenting stress related to the child and to their role as foster parents. Results show that kinship-foster parents experienced higher stress related to the parent domain i.e. depression and relationship problems with the spouse. This was associated with kinship foster parents being of older age and receiving fewer social support services. Non-kinship foster parents experienced higher parenting stress related to the child domain i.e. child’s acceptability and adaptability in the family. This was associated with children in non-kinship foster homes having higher internalising and externalising mental health problems. The implications are that different types of support are needed for kinship foster parents and non-kinship foster parents. More differentiated support for foster parents may help prevent parenting problems and increase placement permanency.

Studies have shown relatively high rates of emotional and behavioural problems among children living in out-of-home care. This study reports the prevalence of social problems at an 8-year follow-up for a group of children/young adults. Predictors for prevalence and change in emotional and behavioural problems at the follow-up are examined. A prospective cohort design with 233 children who had been living in foster care was used. Forty-eight per cent (n = 111) of those interviewed at baseline were located and interviewed at follow-up. Mean age was 17.4 (standard deviation = 2.9) years. Mental health symptomatology was measured with Child Behaviour Checklist and Adult Self-Report. Linear and generalized mixed model analyses were used. Changes in internalizing and externalizing problems from baseline to follow-up was associated with gender. Boys showed more problems at a young age, whereas girls developed more problems later. Predictors for social problems at follow-up were mental health at baseline, kinship care and care placement away from the local community.

The purpose of this study was to explore factors related to placement disruption in long-term kinship and nonkinship foster care in a Nordic country. The study included 136 children aged 4–13 years in kinship and nonkinship foster care in Norway in the year 2000, with updates for the year 2008. Placement and demographic information and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) were collected from foster parents and youths. Generalized linear mixed model analysis was undertaken. A thorough literature review was done in order to study association between disruption and relevant variables. None of the predominant variables from previous literature were significantly associated with disruption for this sample of children in long-term foster care. Since long-term stable foster care (rather than adoption) is the preferred option in Nordic as well as some other European countries, there is a need to explore the processes of inclusion that give children a lifelong commitment to their foster families.

Children in residential care tend to be less content with the quality of care arrangements and participation opportunities compared to children in foster care. This study explored possible differences in social workers’ views about child participation and service quality. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to test if any differences may be explained by collaboration between professionals’ and social workers’ work engagement. We found that social workers from residential care services seem more prudent in letting children participate in case planning compared to social workers planning for foster care. Social workers’ judgements of service quality were also highly affected by their organizational affiliation, but personal factors such as work engagement may also play a part. The differences we found regarding social workers’ attitudes towards participation and their rating of service quality are associated with organizational culture. Understanding how organizations shape social workers’ decisions to include or exclude children in care planning may help gain a more comprehensive understanding of what is needed to take the participation agenda forward.

Effective child participation in child protection proceedings has proved difficult to achieve in Norway. Although participation is in principle accepted as a human right and something of benefit to children, when children’s health is at stake there is a tendency to view participation in decision-making processes by children as potentially disruptive to their well-being. The purpose of this study is to review the research evidence for effects, positive or negative, of participation on health outcomes for children in care. A scoping review of major health and social work research databases was undertaken. Searches in five databases yielded 1830 studies of which 21 were finally included in this review. Studies were included if a relationship between health and participation was evident from the data presented, even if this was not the main objective in the study at hand. We conclude that when participation is successful, it may have beneficial side effects. Chief among these are that participation may improve children’s safety, increase the success of care arrangements and increase feelings of well-being for children involved. Evidence for long-term effects of successful or failed participation attempts on subsequent health outcomes is however largely absent.

The attempt to give children an effective voice in social work processes which can have substantial impact on their lives takes different forms in countries with varying professional cultures and legal frameworks. This paper reports on a study of children's participation in decision-making in care and protection services in Norway, which was carried out in conjunction with a project to support social work teams in enabling children to participate, using materials borrowed from England and Wales. The results showed that (a) taking an active part in decision-making did not correlate perfectly with (b) having an influence on the outcome. Cases were therefore classified as ‘participation’ or ‘non-participation’ using a combination of both the above criteria. Statistical analysis of the factors influencing children's participation enabled the proposition of a model which appeared to explain much of the variance. The results point to the inadequacy of equating social work conversation with children with effecti...

Accepted manuscript version. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10826-015-0221-8. The present meta-analytic review explored long-term treatment effects in children and adolescents, age ranging from 2 to 17 years, treated because of conduct problems. The presumed mediators were examined. Various treatments, in all 56 studies including 2589 participants, were included. 32 studies involved an untreated control condition, whereas 24 studies did not. The overall weighted effect size (ES) in conduct problems after termination of treatment was a reduction of ES = 0.08 for a mean follow-up period of 8.9 months. Long-term changes on the presumed mediator showed a small deterioration of ES = -0.06. The moderator analysis confirmed that treatment effects in conduct problems and mediators were related. Changes in conduct problems from post-treatment to follow-up were larger in studies with cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) or a combination of behavior therapy (BT) and CBT compared to BT and family therapy. Individual treatments resulted in larger changes in aggressive behaviour as compared to group treatments or a combination of these. Treatment effects for both conduct problems and the presumed mediators seem to last, but changes were small. Few studies included teenagers and knowledge of lasting treatment effects is limited for older children including CBT treatments. More knowledge of the mediators involved in treatment is needed, in particular for cognitive and family therapeutic interventions.

This is the accepted manuscript version. Published version available at https://www.idunn.no/tnb/2015/04 Hensikten med kunnskapsoversikten var å lære mer om samhandlingen mellom barnevernet og psykisk helsevern for barn og unge (PHBU) i Norge. Det ble gjort litteratursøk sommeren 2014 i rapporter og artikler som var publisert i tiden 2004 til 2014. Kriterier for inklusjon var at barnevern og/eller PHBU sto i tittelen. Totalt var 78 publikasjoner relevante for en grundigere gjennomgang, og av disse ble 36 inkludert i denne kunnskapsoversikten. Generelt kan det synes som om samhandlingen mellom barnevern og PHBU fungerer bra. Det finnes imidlertid eksempler hvor samhandlingen ikke fungerer tilfredsstillende. Dårlig samhandling kan føre til at barn og unge ikke får tilstrekkelig gode, helhetlige, og samordnede tiltak. Dette er bekymringsfullt siden barn og unge som mottar eller burde motta tiltak fra både barnevern og PHBU, er en særlig utsatt gruppe. Det er vanskelig å slå fast hvor mange som rammes av at samhandlingen mellom tjenestene ikke fungerer tilfredsstillende. Årsaker til vansker i samhandling kan være administrative og økonomiske forhold, samt at det er ulike lovverk som regulerer tjenestene. Kunnskapsoversikten viser at det foreligger lite forskningsbasert informasjon om omfanget av samhandling, samhandlingsvansker og mulige konsekvenser. Det er også lite kunnskap om ulike samarbeidsmodeller mellom tjenestene. Funnene og mulige implikasjoner drøftes. The purpose of the article is to provide information regarding interaction between child welfare agencies and mental health services for children and adolescents in Norway. We conducted literature searches and examined relevant publications. Literature published from 2004 until summer of 2014 was relevant and in all 36 of the publications were included. In general, it seems as if interaction between the services in general is good. However in some cases, cooperation is difficult. Reasons for this could be due to administrative and financial barriers and that the services are regulated by different legislation. Independently of the reasons for these barriers, cooperation difficulties gives causes for concern because these children have heightened risk for adverse outcomes in both short-term and long-term. The findings and possible implications are discussed.

This article is part of Svein Arild Vis' phd dissertation, which is available in Munin at http://hdl.handle.net/10037/7042 Purpose: Following the UN convention on the rights of children, a shift in policy towards greater emphasis on child participation in child protection case processing has occurred. A growing body of research has emerged concerning participation processes in child protection cases and the experiences of children in child protection cases. Very few studies have looked into if and when children get what they want, however. The aim of this study is to assess children's views about living arrangements and visitations in dependency court hearings and to compare these views with the rulings of courts. Method: The study uses a retrospective cohort design. Cases where child welfare board rulings are in line with the wishes of children are compared to cases where rulings differ from the wishes of children. Data were collected from regional social welfare board archives. The study included 151 cases that were randomly drawn from a total population of 2481 cases. Simple and multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with the rulings being in accord with the child's wishes in each sample case. Results: A child advocate was appointed in almost 95% of the cases (n = 142). Fifty-nine percent of the children did not want a change in care. Rulings about care were in line with the wishes of the child in 39% of the cases. Rulings about care were most likely to be what the child wanted, if the child was presently living in public care and did not want to move. Children wanted more visitations with their mothers in 60.5% of the cases and with their fathers in 39.8% of the cases. Whether children wanted more visitations with their mothers was asso- ciated with more visitations being granted. What a child wanted was not associated with the ruling on visitations with the child's father. Conclusion: The impact of children's views on visitations on dependency court rulings depends on what a child wants and how these desires coincide with what is proposed by child protection services. Children's views can be quite effective in blocking certain decisions but are less effective if the child requested a specific change. If a child does not want to stay with his or her birth parents, then the odds that the birth parents will be granted custody is minimal.

This article is part of Svein Arild Vis' phd dissertation, which is available in Munin at http://hdl.handle.net/10037/7042 Although some attempts are being made to increase children's participation in Norwegian child protection cases, much needs to be done in order to comply with the participation principle in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This paper reports on a study of factors that are likely to predict if social workers will attempt to give children an effective voice in decision making processes. 53 child protection case managers and 33 social work students participated in a questionnaire survey in which they were asked to agree or disagree with 20 statements about child participation. Statistical factor analysis was used in order to identify underlying factors in the dataset. The results suggest three main reasons for children not being allowed to participate: communication difficulties (communication factor); because child participation was not deemed necessary (participation advocacy factor); or that participation was considered inappropriate because it might be harmful (protectionism factor). This research suggests that, if we are to improve participation within the child protection system, formal regulations and guidelines need to be accompanied by a greater attention to development of social work skills in working with children through participatory processes