The purpose of this paper is; 1) to present data from the study “Not-planned decisions to place a child in out of home care”, and 2) to present an alternative decision-making process and outcome to emergency placements of children. The aims of our study were to explore parent's views and experiences with not-planned emergency placements, and look at how unnecessary emergency placements might be reduced within the Norwegian Child Welfare Services.
In the first section of our paper, we will present survey data from our interviews with parents (N64). Our analysis shows that approximately 40 % of the parents were in contact with the CWS ahead of the emergency decision to place their child, and said they wanted and asked for help at an earlier stage. Interestingly, we also found that the representation of families from advantaged social classes is higher in emergency placements compared to their representation in planned placements (Kojan og Fauske, 2011).
National aggregated data shows that there has been a significant increase in emergency placements in Norway over the last years. From 2008 to 2014 there was a 63 % increase. Although emergency placements are sometimes necessary, studies suggest that such placements should be prevented. Baugerud and Melinder (2012) show that children exposed to emergency placements, express feelings and behaviors similar to those who have experienced bereavement loss such as numbness, memory loss and apathy. Children experience the separation from their family, siblings, friends and school as stressful and traumatic. 50 % of the children experiencing emergency placements returns to their families within a year (Bufdir, 2014). This raises great ethical and legal concerns for all parts involved. In our study researchers and practitioners are working together to look at how the decision-making processes can be improved.
This brings us to the second purpose of our paper; how CWS systems can make use of humane options of using legal (and sometimes physical) powers in emergency situations. Our aim is to implement a decision-making process that might avert unnecessary emergency placements and to make a space for professionals to help the child within its family and extended network. If children are emergency placed in out of home care, opportunities for change within the family might be lost. Practitioners in our project experience that a crisis is often followed by a quiet period. A crisis provides an opportunity for change.
Our innovation requires no reorganization, but new ways of cooperating between already existing units within the municipality. Three CWS units in the municipality of Trondheim, i.e. Barnevernvakta, Gartnerhaugen and LINK are involved in the project. At Barnevernvakta, the professionals respond to concerns of immediate risk of harm to children 24/7. Gartnerhaugen is a 24 hour residential care unit. LINK is a support service, where family therapists, psychologists and social workers work with children with severe behavioral problems and families at risk, who struggle with the care situation.
The team will work with the families in their homes, and when necessary, they might stay with the family during the night or intervene with other kinds of support for a period to avert out of home care placements. The team can access a residential care unit where children and (extended) families can stay together or separately. The team might offer interventions such as family groups, network mobilization, individual therapy, family therapy, couples therapy and network therapy. We suggest that this is a more humane way of helping children and families, additionally, it might also add valuable contributions to the Child Welfare Service's assessment and decision-making process.
Assessment and decision making in child welfare , Program evaluation and quality in child welfare
