Database for Child Protection Judgements

BARN-NEMND is a research infrastructure project that will create a database for County Social Welfare Board decisions in child welfare cases. The project is coordinated by the Faculty of Law, in collaboration with the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Facylty of Psychology.

The project collects information on approximately 3500 decisions from 1998, 2008, 2018, and 2021. Drawing on research expertise crossing multiple disciplines (political science, law, and psychology), this unprecedented infrastructure will serve as a pillar upon which past and current practice can be assessed and is both a scientific and policy tool that can help shape and improve care order decisions in the future.

The BARN-NEMND database will provide information on arguments that underpin care order decisions, remarks made by involved parties (such as the frontline child protection services and parents), case process details, the use of experts and much more. The information will enable longitudinal quantitative analyses as well as serve to corroborate and strengthen current qualitative research projects on issues related to child protection. 

For more information, please visit our Norwegian webpage or contact us at barn-nemnd@uib.no.