Kunnskapsoppsummering. Vold mot barn og systemsvikt

Abstract

This report presents the result of a literature review commissioned by the government Committee on violence against children ( Barnevoldsutvalget ). The aim of the literature review was to provide an outline of research that would shed light on the following two questions – central to the committee’s work: What factors are identified in the research literature that may explain why public services sometimes fail in protecting children from violence, abuse and neglect? What approaches to improving public services’ capacity to protect children from violence are identified, and what are the respective advantages and disadvantages of these approaches? The literature review has two main parts: The first part reviews literature that focuses on different explanations of failure to protect children. Main themes here are professional decision-making and inter-agency collaboration. Related to this, we review literature on different projects, in Norway and internationally, set up to overcome barriers to inter-agency collaboration. The second part of the report reviews literature that describes approaches and measures set up to prevent failure in child protection: The literature is organized in three strands: Literature focusing on structured methods of risk assessment, literature on professionals’ relational work, as well as literature describing different systems for review of child deaths and serious injury. In a final section, knowledge gaps which were identified through the review are presented.

Denne rapporten gjennomgår forskning, i Norge og internasjonalt, som belyser offentlige tjenesters håndtering av saker der barn og unge har vært utsatt for vold, seksuelle overgrep og alvorlig omsorgssvikt. Kunnskapsgjennomgangen identifiserer også kunnskapshull for feltet. Rapporten er utformet på oppdrag av Barne-, likestillings- og inklu-deringsdepartementet for å bistå det regjeringsoppnevnte Barnevoldsutvalget.