Director of the Centre for Research on Discretion and Paternalism (DIPA) and Professor at the University of Bergen, Marit Skivenes, was featured in the daily newspaper Bergens Tidende (BT). In the article titled “The Child Welfare Crisis Has Worsened” (Akuttkrisen i barnevernet er blitt verre), Professor Skivenes comments on the increasing difficulties in securing proper care for vulnerable children in Norway.
According to the article, 151 children in 2023 did not receive the emergency or institutional placements they were legally entitled to. This marks a worsening crisis in child welfare services, with more children left without adequate support. Some have even been placed in hotels or police-supervised apartments due to the lack of available institutions.
Professor Skivenes highlights that many of these children have struggled for years, and without early intervention, their situations deteriorate further in adolescence.
“These children have faced challenges throughout their upbringing. The problems escalate when they become teenagers, making institutional placement necessary. The question is whether child welfare services should have intervened with stronger measures earlier,” she states in the article.
Professor Skivenes was also featured on the front page of Bergens Tidende on February 12, 2025.
The news article was written by journalists Linda Hilland, Kristin Jansen, and Eirik Brekke, and you can read it on the Bergens Tidende website.