Peer-reviewed article
Children’s voices in child welfare assessment. An exploratory quantitative study of children’s participation in Norwegian child welfare expert reports
Polly Evans McGinn, Dag Øystein Nordanger, Magne Olav Mæhle, Øivin Christiansen, Hanne Cecilie Braarud ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how often children participated in Norwegian child welfare expert assessments that inform court decisions about care proceedings. Researchers analysed 300 assessment reports and found that about half of the children involved actually participated in the process. Younger children (aged 0-5) participated much less than older children, with participation rates becoming more consistent from age 9 onwards. Children from immigrant and non-immigrant backgrounds participated at similar rates. Experts spoke with children about various issues but were less likely to share information back with them.
Key points
- Approximately 50% of children involved in child welfare assessments participated in the expert assessment process
- Children aged 0-2 and 3-5 had significantly lower participation than older age groups
- Participation rates plateaued from age 9 onwards, with no significant differences between ages 9-11, 12-14, and 15+
- No significant differences in participation rates between children with immigrant and non-immigrant backgrounds
- Experts frequently talked with children but less frequently shared information with them
Limitations
The study uses content analysis of written reports, which may not fully capture all interactions between experts and children or the quality of participation. The research is limited to Norwegian practice and may not be generalizable to other countries with different legal frameworks and child welfare systems.
Abstract
In Norway, children have a legal right to participate in all child welfare decision-making processes that concern them. When such a decision concerns whether to pursue care proceedings, child welfare services often commission an assessment from an independent child welfare expert. The study draws on a quantitative content analysis of 300 Norwegian independent child welfare expert assessment reports to analyse the children’s participation. The study also compares the participation of children of different ages and with immigrant and non-immigrant backgrounds. We found that around half of the involved children participated in the assessments. Children in age groups 0–2 and 3–5 experienced significantly lower levels of participation than those aged 6–8, who experienced significantly lower levels of participation than those aged 9–11. Participation was not significantly different between age groups 9–11, 12–14 and 15 and over. There were no differences in the participation of children with immigrant and non-immigrant backgrounds. We found that experts talked with children about a range of issues but shared information with them less frequently. The article discusses possible reasons for and implications of these patterns of participation. This study provides valuable quantitative knowledge to the field of child participation research.