Dr. Hege Beate Stein Helland

Researcher
Hege.Helland@uib.no


(Photo: Eivind Senneset, UiB)

Hege Stein Helland is a Researcher at the Centre for Research on Discretion and Paternalism on the research project “Child Protection Systems Across the World (CPS-WORLD”).

Hege researches public policy, child rights and child protection, institutional legitimacy, and the foundations and services of the welfare state. She is interested in citizens-state interactions and relationships, discretionary practices and policy implementation in public services and the courts, and the normative basis for paternalistic policies and practice. Topics of specific interest include adoption from care, justifications for public coercion, global child protection, and the judicial decision-making and the influence of the European Court of Human Rights.

Her research is both national and comparative, utilising data from various sources and levels, including decision-makers, experts in courts and public administration, citizens, service users, as well as court decisions and public documents. The research methods she primarily employs include text analysis, interviews, surveys, survey vignettes, and survey experiments.

Helland served as an advisor and member of the secretariat for the government-appointed expert commission for the Official Norwegian Report on improving quality and legal protection in child protection (2021-2023). In 2024-2025, she was an elected delegate for Momentum, the UiB’s flagship development programme for early-stage researchers.

Publications

Edited Book
  • Helland, H.S., Gloppen, S. & Skivenes, M. (Eds.) (2025). Child Protection and the European Court of Human Rights. Lessons from Norway in the Development and Contestation of Children’s Rights. Bristol: Policy Press
Book Chapters
  • Helland, H.S. (2025). ‘Domestic Implementation of International Human Rights Case Law at the Norwegian Child Welfare Frontline’, in Helland, H.S., Gloppen, S. & Skivenes, M. (Eds.) Child Protection and the European Court of Human Rights. Lessons from Norway in the Development and Contestation of Children’s Rights. Bristol: Policy Press
  • Helland, H.S., Gloppen, S. & Skivenes, M. (2025). ‘Children’s rights under pressure: Norway, the European Court of Human Rights and the challenges to welfare state legitimacy’, in Helland, H.S., Gloppen, S. & Skivenes, M. (Eds.) Child Protection and the European Court of Human Rights. Lessons from Norway in the Development and Contestation of Children’s Rights. Bristol: Policy Press
  • Helland, H.S. & Gloppen, S. & Skivenes, M. (Eds.) (2025). ‘The European Court of Human Rights: an untapped source for advancing child rights?’, in Helland, H.S., Gloppen, S. & Skivenes, M. (Eds.) Child Protection and the European Court of Human Rights. Lessons from Norway in the Development and Contestation of Children’s Rights. Bristol: Policy Press
  • Helland, H. S., Križ, K., & Skivenes, M. (2023). Gauging the child’s presence and voice in adoption proceedings of children from care in seven European countries: Applying a child equality perspective. In Research Handbook on Adoption Law (pp. 190–211). Edward Elgar Publishing.
  • Helland, H.S. & Skivenes, M. (2021) Adoptions from Care: Norway. In Pösö, T., Skivenes, M. & Thoburn, J. Adoptions from Care: International Perspectives on Children’s Rights, Family Preservation and State Intervention.
  • Helland, H.S. & Nygård, S. (2021) Understanding attachment in decisions on adoption from care in Norway. In Pösö, T., Skivenes, M. & Thoburn, J. Adoptions from Care: International Perspectives on Children’s Rights, Family Preservation and State Intervention.
Articles
  • Helland, H.S. (2024). Population attitudes towards children’s participation in cases of maltreatment: An experimental and comparative study of the Nordic countries. Child Abuse and Neglect. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.107077
  • Berrick, J.D., Helland, H.S. & Skivenes, M. (2024). Public rights orientations and views on care options for children in the child protection system: An analysis of representative samples of the populations of California, USA and Norway. Social Policy & Administration, 0, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.13081
  • Helland, H.S. (2024). Reconciling Children’s Best Interest and Right to be Heard. The International Journal of Children’s Rights, 32(1), 45-77. doi.org/10.1163/15718182-32010007
  • Helland, H.S., Skivenes, M. & Pedersen, S.H. (2022) Comparing population views on state responsibility for children in vulnerable situations – the role of institutional context and socio-demographic characteristics, Journal of Public Child Welfare. doi.org/10.1080/15548732.2022.2051674
  • Helland, H. S. (2021). Reasoning between Rules and Discretion: A Comparative Study of the Normative Platform for Best Interest Decision-Making on Adoption in England and Norway. International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, 35(1). doi.org/10.1093/lawfam/ebab036
  • Helland, H. S. (2021). In the Best Interest of the Child? Justifying Decisions on Adoption from Care in the Norwegian Supreme Court. The International Journal of Children’s Rights, 29(3), 609-639. doi.org/10.1163/15718182-29030004
  • Burns, K., Helland, H. S., Križ, K., Sánchez-Cabezudo, S. S., Skivenes, M., & Strömpl, J. (2021). Corporal punishment and reporting to child protection authorities: An empirical study of population attitudes in five European countries. Children and Youth Services Review, 120, 105749. doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105749
  • Helland, H. S. (2020). Tipping the scales: The power of parental commitment in decisions on adoption from care. Children and Youth Services Review, 119. doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105693
  • Helland, H. S., Pedersen, S. H., & Skivenes, M. (2020). Adopsjon eller offentlig omsorg? En studie av befolkningens syn på adopsjon som tiltak i barnevernet. Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning, 61(02), 124–139. doi.org/10.18261/issn.1504-291X-2020-02-02
  • Helland, H. S., Križ, K., Sánchez-Cabezudo, S. S., & Skivenes, M. (2018). Are there population biases against migrant children? An experimental analysis of attitudes towards corporal punishment in Austria, Norway and Spain. Children and Youth Services Review, 85, 151–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.12.012
  • Enroos, R., Stein Helland, H., Pösö, T., Skivenes, M., & Tonheim, M. (2017). The role and function of the spokesperson in care order proceedings: A cross-country study in Finland and Norway. Children and Youth Services Review, 74, 8–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.01.017

Education

Projects

Get to know Hege

Can you describe your office space?

The result of a constant battle between my need for order and system, and my inability to execute this: Orderly messy.

That said, our offices are really nice! The department is housed in a beautiful building. My office even has a fireplace (although it’s not working) and an ornate ceiling with beautiful details, so I consider myself very lucky with regard to my physical surroundings.

Are you a cat or dog person, or both, or neither?

Both! I currently have one of each 🙂

Would you rather brainstorm in silence or with background music, and why?

I prefer silence. My best brainstorms are done while hiking. If I listen to something, it is usually loud, noisy metal—or something white noise-ish, such as rain sounds.

What are you working on right now?

Several things! Many of my current papers are concentrated around two topics: public attitudes towards corporal punishment, approaching this topic from different angles and contexts, and the European Court of Human Rights’ (ECtHR) engagement with children’s rights. My primary focus these days is to finish a paper on the influence of the ECtHR on the discretionary practices of Norwegian child protection workers.

Which podcast are you listening to right now and why?

In addition to my daily dose of news and politics podcasts, I’m deep into all the local Brann-podcasts (the local Bergen football team) these days. I also listen regularly to Pyro & Pivo, a really fun podcast about football at all levels (except the best) around the world, as well as (football) politics, (football) culture, beer, and pyro.

Who would you invite as your first guest if you had your own late-night talk show?

My grandmother. She is 85, full of life, fun, and totally unpredictable – guaranteed, she would provide a memorable TV moment that set the standard for the guests to come!

Updated Autumn 2025