Barnevernets innsats: en analyse av innhold, utvikling og sammenheng med barn og foreldres belastninger

Abstract

The child protection services in Norway may be defined as being relatively family oriented compared to child protective services in other countries. During recent years the number of children in need receiving a range of family support services or being placed in care has increased. Studies have shown that the families receiving help from the child protective services in Norway experience more problems in several areas of their lives than other families. Common problems are unemployment, poverty, weak and few network resources, low education level, conflicts within the family and with the surroundings and frequent change of residence location.

It is, however, unclear whether the family orientation has become stronger, in the sense that more preventive family support is given to the families through the child protective services. There is also limited knowledge about the coherence between the amount of problems among the children and parents and the level of effort given from the child protection services. The aim of this study is to generate knowledge that will contribute to answer these questions.

This study is based on information from national statistics in Norway 2002 to 2008. This material is organized in a way that shows development in the range and extent of effort from the child protection services. Furthermore, the study is based on the data from the survey 'Det nye barnevernet‘. All in all 715 families were included in the survey. 495 children and their families received family support from the child protection services or had been placed in care at the point of the enquiry, and are therefore included in this study. By creating a scale that indicate the extent of effort from the child protection services, it was possible to examine the coherence between the amount of problems among children and parents and the level of effort from the child protection services.

The result from this study shows no significant coherence between the amount of problems among children and parents and the level of effort provided by the child protection services. It also shows that most of the children and their families receive family support in form of professional guidance and that typical welfare aid is given in a combination with other and more intensive types of interventions. Furthermore the study shows that the child protection services are under continuously development. Some of the types of welfare aid are less likely to be used now than before. These changes are not necessarily rooted in scientifically knowledge as there is little or no research on many of the most commonly used interventions in the child protection services.

This study suggests that further studies on decision making processes in the child protection services should be done. The national statistics should be enhanced in a way that gives a better and more holistic picture of the effort that children and their families receive. Moreover, it will be important to extend the knowledge regarding the most commonly used interventions from the child protection services.