Peer-reviewed article
Child welfare services’ investigation of violence against children in Norway – a pilot and feasibility study
Rakel Aasheim Greve, Tone Hee Åker, Karl Ove Hufthammer, Kjersti Alsaker, Birgitta Persdotter ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This pilot study tested a research design used in Sweden to measure how child welfare services in Norway investigate violence against children. Seven Norwegian child welfare services completed 136 surveys about their investigations. The study found that most cases opened due to suspected violence resulted in identified violence, with minor physical abuse being most common, and children being the primary reporters. The research design was found feasible with minor adjustments.
Key points
- The research design was successfully piloted and found feasible with minor adjustments
- Child welfare services identified violence in the majority of cases opened due to suspicion of violence
- Minor physical abuse towards the child was the most common form of violence identified
- Children were the most frequent reporters of violence, while parents disclosed violence in fewer cases
- Risk assessment practices varied greatly between different child welfare services
Limitations
This is a pilot and feasibility study, so findings are from only seven child welfare services and cannot be generalised to all Norwegian services. The study does not provide information about outcomes for children or the effectiveness of the investigations themselves.
Abstract
This pilot and feasibility study includes seven child welfare services (CWS) that completed a total of 136 surveys. The research design, initially developed and conducted in Sweden, is aimed at increasing knowledge about violence against children within child welfare services. The purpose of the present study was to test the feasibility of the research design and to pilot the main outcome variables. The survey comprises questions about CWS investigations of violence against children and intimate partner violence among their parents. The study shows that the research design is feasible with minor adjustments and that the study variables will contribute important knowledge to inform CWS practice. Results from the survey show that the participating CWS identify violence in the majority of cases that are opened due to suspicion of violence, with minor physical abuse towards the child being the most common form of violence. The results also indicate that children are the most frequent reporters of violence, while parents disclose violence in fewer cases. There is an association between the assessed risk of further violence and the number of identified risk factors, although risk assessment varies greatly between CWS.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Implementation of a standardised research design with survey questions about child welfare services' investigations of violence against children and intimate partner violence among parents
- Population
- Seven child welfare services in Norway (136 surveys completed)
Key finding
Research design was feasible with minor adjustments