The impact of case factors on the initial screening decision in child welfare investigations in Norway

Rustad, Kirsten Buck; Lauritzen, Camilla; Havnen, Karen J Skaale; Fossum, Sturla; Christiansen, Øivin; Vis, Svein Arild

doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105708

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…The GPs’ duty of confidentiality is defined in the Health Personnel Act, which allows for exceptions in cases regarding factors that could harm a child, and Norway has mandated reporting for all professionals when there are concerns about child maltreatment [ 31 ]. The threshold for reporting is generally low and most reports are investigated by the Norwegian CWS [ 32 ]. When the CWS decides to open an investigation, they may ask for parental consent to collect information and cooperate with other parties such as the GP.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘There’s a will, but not a way’: Norwegian GPs’ experiences of collaboration with child welfare services – a grounded theory study

Øverhaug,

Laue,

Vis

et al. 2024

BMC Prim. Care

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Background Adverse childhood experiences can have immediate effects on a child’s wellbeing and health and may also result in disorders and illness in adult life. General practitioners are in a good position to identify and support vulnerable children and parents and to collaborate with other agencies such as child welfare services. There is a need for better integration of relevant services. The aim of this study is to explore GPs’ experiences of the collaboration process with child welfare services. Method This is a qualitative grounded theory study, with data consisting of ten semi-structured interviews with general practitioners across Norway. Results The doctors’ main concern was: ‘There’s a will, but not a way’. Three subordinate stages of the collaboration process were identified: (I) Familiar territory, with a whole-person approach to care by the doctor. (II) Unfamiliar territory, when child welfare becomes involved. Here, a one-way window of information and a closed door to dialogue perpetuate the doctors’ lack of knowledge about child welfare services and uncertainty about what is happening to their patients. (III) Fragmented territory, where doctors experience lost opportunities to help and missing pieces in the patient’s history. Conclusion General practitioners are willing to contribute to a collaborative process with child welfare, but this is hampered by factors such as poor information flow and opportunities for dialogue, and limited knowledge of the partner. This implies lost opportunities for doctors to help families and contribute their knowledge and potential actions to a child welfare case. It can also impede whole-person care and lead to fragmentation of patient pathways. To counteract this, electronic two-way communication could enable a collaborative process and relationships that enhance coordination between the parties. Making space for all parties and their individual roles was considered important to create a positive collaborative environment.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘There’s a will, but not a way’: Norwegian GPs’ experiences of collaboration with child welfare services – a grounded theory study

Øverhaug,

Laue,

Vis

et al. 2024

BMC Prim. Care

Self Cite

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“…There may be many reasons for this, for example may services offered be inappropriate or ineffective. Rustad et al (2022) found that in about a quarter of the cases reported to CWPS in Norway (26.6%), the family had previously received services from the CWPS. We cannot, however, safely conclude from this that the service was ineffective.…”

Section: Child Protection Decision-making Within the Norwegian Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Service Provision by Child Protection Services — Exploring Variability at Case and Agency Levels in a Norwegian Sample

Vis

Lauritzen

Fluke

et al. 2023

Int. Journal on Child Malt.

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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.

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Gender disparities in child welfare services' assessments of referrals. Findings from Sweden

Kalin

Ahlgren²,

Persdotter³

2022

Child Abuse & Neglect

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The impact of case factors on the initial screening decision in child welfare investigations in Norway

Cited by 4 publications

References 33 publications

‘There’s a will, but not a way’: Norwegian GPs’ experiences of collaboration with child welfare services – a grounded theory study

‘There’s a will, but not a way’: Norwegian GPs’ experiences of collaboration with child welfare services – a grounded theory study

Service Provision by Child Protection Services — Exploring Variability at Case and Agency Levels in a Norwegian Sample

Gender disparities in child welfare services' assessments of referrals. Findings from Sweden

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