. Little is known about why barnevernets take up care of children, so researchers now want to find answers to these questions.
Every year around 3500 children are taken away from their parents. However, little is known about the reasons behind these decisions. Now, scientists will study 90 cases from the XNUMXs to the present day to find out the answers.
Last year alone, barnevernet took care of 751 children, and in total 8144 children were looked after. However, little is known about the reasons for the custody. Knowledge about children and parents in these cases is also small.
The University of Bergen takes a barnevernet under a microscope
Researchers from the University of Bergen will now create a database of barnevernet decisions regarding children in Norway over the last 25 years.
“It is disturbing that we know so little about the background of custody. Taking over care is one of the most drastic and invasive measures of the welfare state. There should be a moral obligation to evaluate its use, says law professor Karl Harald Søvig.
The project starts this fall and is led by prof. Camilla Bernt from the Faculty of Law. The database will contain all decisions from 1998, 2008, 2018 and 2021, a total of 3500 decisions. These data will give a picture of the development over 25 years.
- We're excited about what we find. What are the reasons for your decisions? Under what conditions were the parents or the child assessed, and how justified is the decision? Bernt and Søvig ask.
The cause may be, for example, violence, mental illness, drug addiction or other medical conditions. Scientists will investigate whether the causes have changed over the past 25 years.
- We will also be able to see what support measures have been tried, how long the family was known for barnevernet and to what extent children's rights were protected. I also think we will see trends in psychology reflected in decisions, says Camilla Bernt.
- We may find out that certain concepts are repeated, such as the 'mentalizing abilities' of parents. What psychology experts have learned in their research is once again the basis of which directions dominate psychological research now, Bernt believes.
Norway versus the European Court of Human Rights
In recent years, Norway has received 11 judgments against itself in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). A recurring theme in the judgments is that the authorities prematurely decide to take over long-term childcare. Too little contact between children and biological parents is also repeated.
- Therefore, we are particularly interested in whether the decisions are based on a long-term acquisition and whether a minimum visit is established. Previous smaller studies that have been conducted have shown that these situations are quite common, says Søvig.
When asked whether the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights gave impetus to this project, Camilla Bernt replies as follows:
- I was interested in cases of compulsion in the childcare service before the cases of the ECtHR against Norway. This is an important area. But now is a good time to get support for this project. It is more important than ever to obtain information about what barnevernet actually does, because, unfortunately, in some social groups there is a lot of distrust towards this institution.
Scientists hope that the newly acquired knowledge will help build confidence in barnevernet and help to demystify what is happening in this institution.
Read our next article: Barnevernet in Norway - what do we need to know?
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