Research Project Talk with us Professional practice and children s participation Project director: Liv Mette Gulbrandsen (SAM) Project staff at OUC: Mona Asbjørnslett, Wenche Bekken, Bjørg Fallang, Kari Opsahl, Ingvil Øien, Sigrid Østensjø (HF), Sølvi Helseth, Nina Misvær (SU), Ingeborg Marie Helgeland, Bennedichte Olsen, Sissel Seim, Oddbjørg Skjær Ulvik, Karin Haarberg Aas, Emad Al-Rozzi, Pernille Stornæss Skotte, Kari Sjøhelle Jevne (SAM) Funding: Research Council of Norway Duration: 01 June 2007 31 July 2013 Contact: liv-mette.gulbrandsen@sam.hio.no This is an interdepartmental project embedded in OUC s research programme Health, Care and Welfare (HOV). Its design is based on participatory action research, and the project has been developed in close collaboration with the practitioners involved, i.e. the professionals, the children/adolescents involved and their guardians/families. The project s general research question is: How can professional practices involving children be designed so as to enhance the child s ability to be an active social participant in everyday life? With a basis in various professions in the field of pediatric rehabilitation and child protection, the project aims to develop forms of practice that promote active participation and co-determination by children. The project will help bring new professional conceptions of girls and boys in different age groups and from different social and cultural backgrounds more actively into professional activities. The project comprises five sub-projects: A (including A1, A2, A3 and A4), B, C (including C1 and C2), D and E.
A1. Children s participation in child welfare services Project staff: Liv Mette Gulbrandsen, Ingeborg Helgeland, Pernille Stornæss Skotte, Kari Sjøhelle Jevne, Sissel Seim, Oddbjørg Skjær Ulvik, Karin Haarberg Aas Funding: Research Council of Norway and OUC Duration: 2008-2013 Contact: liv-mette.gulbrandsen@sam.hio.no Project description The main purpose of this project is to identify new ways of working that can promote the ability of girls and boys who are in contact with the child welfare services to be active participants in their everyday life. Some of these children are in a transitional situation that involves major changes, for example when being placed in an institution or a foster home. For others, the challenge involves improving the conditions in the parental home, if necessary with assistance from the child welfare services. Cooperation with the Health and Welfare Services of Oslo Municipality has been established, with a view to implementing this sub-project in close collaboration with a number of child welfare centres in Oslo. During the first phase of the sub-project, researchers will act as participant observers of the activities at the child welfare centres. Planning will involve 8-12 cases, with a selection of children of both genders aged 5-12, from both majority and ethnic minority backgrounds. The main focus of this sub-project involves development of forms of cooperation that enable the child to become an active participant in the professional processes as well as in his or her everyday life. Other key issues of the sub-project relate to the particular challenges that may occur with regard to the child s right to co-determination in matters pertaining to child welfare, and the barriers to practices emerging from the child s right to participation and codetermination in this area. The research design employs perspectives from participatory action research as a framework to discuss the research issues. Methods include participant observation by researchers, individual and collective forms of conversation, interviews and actor dialogue. Master s degree project associated with sub-project A: Ingrid Randen Bull s Master s thesis (Master of Social Work, OUC)
Publications and dissemination, 2010 Ingrid Randen Bull Master s thesis: Klientprotest, makt og deltakelse - Barnevernets profesjonsutøvelse i konfliktfylte relasjoner og klienters deltakelse, HiO [Client protest, power and participation professional practices in the child welfare services in high-conflict relationships and client participation, OUC]. Gulbrandsen, Liv Mette. Annerledeshet og barns deltakelse - deling og mening. I: Annerledeshet: Sårbarhetens språk og politikk. [Differentness and children s participation sharing and meaning. In: Differentness: The language and politics of vulnerability] Gyldendal Akademisk 2010 ISBN 9788205400788. p. 179-194. OUC. Gulbrandsen, Liv Mette. Barn og hverdagsliv: Kvalitative tilnærminger. Kvalitative metoder: Utfordringer, muligheter og dilemmaer; 2010-09-09-2010-10-10. [Children and everyday life: Qualitative approaches. Qualitative methods: Challenges, opportunities and dilemmas. 9 September 2010-10 October 2010]. OUC. Gulbrandsen, Liv Mette. Barn, utvikling og forskning. Nettverksmøte; 2010-01-15 [Children, development and research. Network meeting, 15 January 2010]. OUC. Gulbrandsen, Liv Mette. Professional practices and children's participation: Methodological challenges in an action research project. Researching children's participation: Theories and methodologies. 25 October 2010. OUC Gulbrandsen, Liv Mette. Utforsking av barns sosiale deltakelse og medvirkning i profesjonelle prosesser. Mulige forståelsesformer og metodiske framgangsmåter. [Investigation of children s social participation and co-determination in professional processes. Possible forms of understanding and methodological approaches] Kvalitativt Forum, 13 April 2010. OUC. Ulvik, Oddbjørg Skjær; Gulbrandsen, Liv Mette. Sociology of Childhood and Developmental Psychologies: Could they Tango? XVII ISA World Congress of Sociology, 11-17 July 2010. OUC Ulvik, Oddbjørg Skjær. Barnevern og barns deltaking: Kvifor og korleis? Myndiggjering og deltaking - kva så?; 2010-11-11 [Child welfare and children s participation: Why and how? Empowerment and participation then what? 11 November 2010). OUC. Ulvik, Oddbjørg Skjær. Samtaler med barn i barnevernet: Utvikling av praksiser i prosjektet "Snakk med oss". Den nasjonale FORSAkonferansen 2010: "Det sosiale i sosialt arbeid"; 2010-09-30-2010-10-01 [Conversations with children in the child welfare services: Development of practices in the project Talk with us. The national FORSA conference 2010: Social aspects of social work, 30 September
1 October 2010]. OUC. Seim, Sissel. Barn i fattige familier - Gode tiltak for å motvirke fattigdom i oppvekst og fremtid? Dagskonferanse Barnefattigdom 2010 Det europeiske året for bekjempelse av fattigdom og sosial eksklusjon; 2010-10-28-2010-10-28. [Children of poor families appropriate interventions to prevent poverty in adolescence and later? One-day conference: Child poverty 2010 The European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, 28 October 2010]. OUC Seim, Sissel. Brukermedvirkning og brukerundersøkelser. Sosialpedagogikk; 2010-12-10-2010-12-10 HiO [User participation and user surveys. Social pedagogy, 10 December 2010]. OUC Seim, Sissel. Etiske utfordringer med brukermedvirkning og brukeres selvbestemmelse. Etikkseminar med fokus på fattigdom; 2010-10-29-2010-10-29 [ Ethical challenges involved in user participation and co-determination. Ethics seminar focusing on poverty, 29 October 2010]. OUC Seim, Sissel; Slettebø, Tor. Collective participation in child protection services: partnership or tokenism? European Journal of Social Work 2011. OUC A2. Follow-up of 85 young people with serious behavioural problems: A re-analysis of the empirical material Project staff: Ingeborg Marie Helgeland Duration: 2007-2009 Contact: IngeborgMarie.Helgeland@sam.hio.no Project description Sub-project A2 focuses on how young people with serious behavioural problems have perceived their co-determination and participation in the decisions made by the school and the child protection services. The main purpose of the project Follow-up of 85 young people with serious behavioural problems (Helgeland 2006) was to study the life course of 85 young people with serious behavioural problems. These were interviewed at age 15, 20 and 30. They were all registered in the child welfare project Alternatives to imprisonment of adolescents, and received various forms of intervention. In her re-analysis of the interviews from this study, Helgeland addresses the following analytical issues: In what ways have these young people experienced that the child protection services have taken their points of view into account? How did they perceive this when they were young, and what
are their points of view with regard to their participation in the child welfare services now, in adulthood? A3. Children in child welfare cases involving parental conflicts: Opportunities for participation and conditions for development (PhD project) Project director: Kari Sjøhelle Jevne Supervisors: Oddbjørg Skjær Ulvik (OUC), Agnes Andenæs (University of Oslo) Duration: 2009 2012 Contact: kari.jevne@sam.hio.no Project description This PhD project examines the professional practices of child protection services in cases that involve a high level of conflict between non-cohabiting parents. The children who are in focus in this study have parents in different homes, who disagree on the child s place of residence, contact or execution of parental responsibilities, and where these conflicts are so severe as to constitute a concern for the child protection services. In such cases, professional practice is assumed to face complex and challenging problems. Relevant topics of conflict could be, for example, suspicions of abuse committed during contact, concerns of the contact parent about the care provided to the child by the residential parent, or that the level of conflict is sufficiently high to give rise to concerns for the child s situation. The general research question in this PhD project is: How can we conceptualize the social participation of the child and her/his conditions for development in a care system where professionals participate? The research problems are: How are the care and the developmental support provided to the child described and understood? How are the professional practices in these cases described and understood? How are the child s opportunities for participation in her/his own daily life and in the professional practices of the child protection services described and understood? The study is based on context-sensitive theories of developmental psychology, which are based on the assumption that a child develops through social participation in a given social, historical and cultural context. The mutual interdependence of development and participation thereby constitutes a theoretical premise. The study is based on qualitative interviews with case officers in the municipal child protection services, as well as with children and parents who have a history of contact with
these services. The study forms part of a larger project entitled Professional practices and children s participation. The study aims to produce psychological knowledge of the situation, development and family life of children. It is also expected that the study will contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the concept of participation, and that knowledge in the field of developmental psychology will be made relevant to our understanding of what constitutes a participant. A further goal is to contribute applied knowledge that can strengthen the work of child protection services and other professions with regard to children of high-conflict parents. Publications and dissemination, 2010 Jevne, Kari Sjøhelle. Agendaen vår var jo at vi skulle ta barnas perspektiv. - Barneperspektiv i barnevernssaker med store konflikter mellom skilte foreldre. FORSA 2010; 2010-09-30-2010-10-01 [ Our agenda was to assume the children s perspective. Perspectives on children in child welfare cases involving high-conflict, divorced parents FORSA 2010, 30 September 2010 1 Ocotber 2010] OUC. Jevne, Kari Sjøhelle. Barnevernssaker med foreldrekonflikter barns deltakelsesmuligheter og utviklingsbetingelser. Barn på tvers; 2010-06-16-2010-06-17 [Child welfare cases involving high-conflict parents the child s opportunities for participation and conditions for development. Conference on children, 16-17 June 2010]. Jevne, Kari Sjøhelle. Talking about participation: Child welfare workers dealing with high-conflict divorce families.. XVII ISA World Congress of Sociology; 2010-07-11-2010-07-17 HiO A4. Narratives about children s participation - an analysis of case documents in the child welfare services (PhD project) Project director: Pernille Stornæss Skotte Supervisors: Professor Lise Kjølsrød (University of Oslo), Eivind Engebretsen (University of Oslo/ SAM) Duration: 2010-2014 Contact: Pernille.Skotte@sam.hio.no Project description This research project examines the position of children who are in contact with the child welfare services with regard to their own child welfare processes.
An analysis of case documents pertaining to a number of current child welfare cases of families with children of primary school age studies how case officers and others who are professionally involved in the cases describe the children in the written material, and whether, or to what extent, this has an effect on the processing of the case in question. Political guidelines, finances, the legal basis, professional cultures and organization of the work in the individual child welfare offices, as well as the conceptions and practices of individual practitioners, will all have an impact on how child welfare matters are handled, and thereby also on the way in which children are being involved in their cases. The project examines the interconnections between these descriptions, the contexts within which they are produced and the preconceptions of the child welfare workers. One of the main foci of the project will be to investigate how the children s own perspectives characterize the narratives about the children and their history within the child welfare services. B. Children with physical disabilities: Transition from day-care to school Project staff: Bjørg Fallang, Sigrid Østensjø, Ingvil Øien Duration: 2008-2013 Contact: bjørg.fallang@hf.hio.no Project description This project is a follow-up of the study Intensive habilitation of children with cerebral palsy and other neurological conditions: goals and learning from everyday activities. Five boys and two girls aged two to three years, from a traditional Norwegian ethnic background, participated in the study. The study focused on processes related to the definition of goals and implementation of these goals in everyday activities, seen from a family-centred perspective (Østensjø 2003). These children were enrolled in school in the autumn of 2008. Following the same seven children into their school lives also serves to establish a longitudinal axis in the project. A cooperation agreement has been signed with the Department of Habilitation at Buskerud Hospital, which is responsible for the children s treatment. Methodology To investigate the children s opportunities for active participation in these processes, the researchers will act as participant observers at the day-care centre prior to school enrolment, as well as immediately after and three to six months after school enrolment. The conversations with the children will be organized as life-form interviews, based on visual images produced by the children themselves (Clark and Statham 2005).
To investigate the children s participation we will also undertake trials of standardized instruments, where the children will define their own goals and assess their own skills (Missiuna and Pollock 2004, King et al. 2004). Development and testing of models and forms of work based on participation will take place in close cooperation between the researchers, the children and their guardians, as well as the school and the medical institution. Dissemination and publications, 2010 Fallang, Bjørg. Barns tidlige motoriske utvikling og betydning av håndtering og stellerutiner i hverdagslivet.. Barn og unge på tvers; 2010-06-16-2010-06-17. [Early motor development in children and the importance of handling and care routines in everyday life. Conference on children and youth, 16-17 June 2010]. OUC Fallang, Bjørg. Målsetting i habilitering og rehabilitering, utfordringer ved å sette mål og evaluere tiltak. Skedsmo kommune, Fysio og ergoterapitjenesten; 2010-11-29-2010-11-29. [Goals in habilitation and rehabilitation, challenges involved in definition of goals and evaluation of interventions. Skedsmo Municipality, physiotherapy and occupational therapy services, 29 November 2010]. OUC Fallang, Bjørg; Øien, Ingvil. Barns utvikling av motoriske ferdigheter. I: Barnas Barnehage 2 - Barn i utvikling. [Children s development of motor skills. In: The children s day-care centres 2 children in development] Gyldendal Akademisk 2010 ISBN 978-82-05-39973-0. p. 161-176. OUC Fallang, Bjørg; Øien, Ingvil. Hvordan møter vi motorisk usikre barns ønsker og utfordringer med å delta i fysisk aktivitet. NFF's temadager fysisk aktivitet og bevegelse i fysioterapi; 2010-06-17-2010-06-18. [How do we meet the wishes and challenges of motorically insecure children with regard to participation in physical activities? Lecture series, Norwegian Physiotherapists Association: Physical activity and motion in physiotherapy, 17-18 June 2010]. OUC Fallang, Bjørg; Øien, Ingvil; Østensjø, Sigrid. Exploration of the child with disability in interaction with school professionals. Researching children s participation; 25-27 October 2010. OUC Øien, Ingvil; Fallang, Bjørg; Østensjø, Sigrid. Goal-setting in paediatric rehabilitation: perceptions of parents and professional. Child: Care Health and Development 2010 ;Volume 36.(4) s. 558-565. OUC Østensjø, Sigrid; Fallang, Bjørg; Øien, Ingvil. Deltakelse som begrep i profesjonell praksis med funksjonshemmede barn. Skandinavisk rehabiliteringskonferanse - Rehabilitering mellom livsverden og funksjon; 2010-11-11-2010- 11-12 [Participation as a concept in professional practices involving disabled children. Scandinavian Conference on Rehabilitation Rehabilitation between life-world and function, 11-12 November 2010].
OUC Østensjø, Sigrid; Fallang, Bjørg; Øien, Ingvil. Goal-oriented approach to family-centred services for children with cerebral palsy. Conference on Health and Welfare, Disabilty and Rehabilitation in PRC and Norway; 10-11 October 2010. OUC Østensjø, Sigrid; Fallang, Bjørg; Øien, Ingvil. Listening to young children's experience of the use of assistive devices in school settings. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology 2010 ;Volume 52. Suppl. 4 s. 63-63. OUC Østensjø, Sigrid; Fallang, Bjørg; Øien, Ingvil. Listening to young children's experience of the use of assistive devices in school settings. 22nd Annual Meeting of European Academy of Childhood Disability (EACD); 26-29 May 2010. OUC Øien, Ingvil. Barns deltagelse i skolehverdagen. Buskerud Intensive program; 2010-10-29-2010-10-29. [Children s participation in everyday school activities. Buskerud Intensive Programme, 29 October 2010]. OUC Østensjø, Sigrid. Utforsking av funksjonshemmede barns deltakelse knyttet til overgangen mellom barnehage og skole. Mulige forståelsesformer og metodiske fremgangsmåter. Kvalitativt forum; 2010-04-13-2010-04-13. [Investigation of disabled children s participation in the context of transition from day-care to school. Possible conceptual forms and methodological approaches. Qualitative Forum, 13 March 2010]. OUC C1. About being where things happen. Young girls and boys with physical disabilities Project staff: Sølvi Helset, Bennedichte C. R. Olsen, Kari Opsahl, Mona Asbjørnslett Duration: 2008 2013 Contact: mona.asbjornslett@hf.hio.no Project description This project studies children with physical disabilities and their social participation in everyday life, with a particular focus on school. The project focuses on how various forms of interaction with professional practitioners in school can help promote social participation. The target group comprises young people with physical disabilities who are in transition from primary to lower secondary school. The main purpose of the project is to generate knowledge about children s social participation in everyday life, and to identify forms of interaction in school that can promote the social participation of children and young people with physical disabilities.
Methodology Life-form interviews, topically based interviews and observations with and of children and young people, relatives, teachers and assistants. This sub-project follows two cohorts of children/young people from their last spring term in primary school through their first year in lower secondary school, and includes three interviews with each child. C2. About being where things happen on professional practices and children s participation in school (PhD project) Project director: Mona Asbjørnslett Supervisors: Sølvi Helseth (OUC), Gunn H. Engelsrud (NIH) Duration: 2009 2013 Contact: mona.asbjornslett@hf.hio.no The general research question in this PhD project is: How do children with physical disabilities experience, articulate and understand participation in their own everyday lives, with a particular focus on school? More specifically, the project addresses the everyday lives of children and the forms of interaction with professional practitioners that can help promote the participation of these children. In addition to the children, who will be the main informants, we will also investigate the experiences of professional practitioners and parents with regard to their interaction with children. The children in this project will be in their final year in primary school at the time when the first contact with them is established. They will be followed through their first year at the lower secondary level. The professional practitioners in this project will mainly comprise teachers, although other professions that appear in the lives of children include school assistants, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and district nurses. Other groups, such as for example school librarians, may even be included. How do children perceive participation in their own everyday lives? How do children perceive their interaction with professional practitioners at school? What are the experiences of parents with regard to cooperation with professional practitioners at school? What are the experiences of professional practitioners with regard to interaction with children with physical disabilities? The study is based on concepts from activity theory and phenomenology, with an emphasis on a dialectical, cultural understanding of how children interact with others, but including a
main focus on the child s experience, articulation and understanding as a main component. Thereby, a theoretical premise is that participation in everyday life cannot be seen in isolation from the cultural and historic context, and that the child s linguistic and bodily expressions communicate this perspective. Children, parents and professionals will be interviewed, and the interviews will be subject to a qualitative analysis. The main purpose of this study is to generate knowledge about the social participation of children in their own everyday lives, and to identify forms of interaction in the school setting that can help promote the social participation of children with physical disabilities. Dissemination and publications, 2010 Asbjørnslett, Mona. Participation - being where things actually happen. World Congress of Sociology; 11-17 July 2010. OUC Asbjørnslett, Mona. Underslår barns rettigheter. [Disregards children s rights ] Dagbladet 2010. OUC D. Care in transition (PhD project) Care as practised, perceived and experienced by professional practitioners and the children resident in care centres for unaccompanied underage asylum seekers. Project director: Emad Al-Rozzi Supervisors: Liv Mette Gulbrandsen (OUC), Berit H. Johnsen (University of Oslo) Duration: 2009-2013 Contact: emad.al-rozzi@sam.hio.no Project description Care as practised, perceived and experienced by professional practitioners and children resident in care centres for unaccompanied underage asylum seekers. The child welfare services in Norway have recently been charged with the responsibility for a new and very vulnerable group of children and adolescents. The care centres are responsible for providing a safe environment, appropriate treatment, schooling and necessary medical and psychosocial treatment to unaccompanied underage asylum seekers (Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs (BUF), 2009).
Since the organization of the provision of care in these centres is a relatively new phenomenon, this gives rise to challenges for the professionals, because of the as yet insufficient availability of information on the children who live there. This gives rise to further challenges in terms of how to cater to the needs of these children. This PhD project will investigate the systems that have been designed to provide care to unaccompanied asylum seekers below the age of 15. The study will take a dual analytical approach: First, we will study the forms of organization, practices and conceptions of care provided by the professionals working in the care centre. Second, we will study the experience of the children living in these centres and their participation in the daily care practices. A prominent feature of the care provided as well as the situation of these minors is its transitional character: In principle, the children should not stay in these centres for more than a year. Master s projects associated with sub-project D: Master s theses by Marita Østereng, Janne Thu Ilstad and Ingunn Legard. Publications and dissemination 2010 Marita Østereng Masteroppgave: Kjønnede betydninger på omsorgssenter. En studie av enslige mindreårige asylsøkerjenter og deres omsorgspersoner. [Master s thesis: Gendered meanings at care centres. A study of unaccompanied underage girls and their care providers]. OUC Janne Thu Ilstad Masteroppgave: Rett alder - En lesning av ulike tekster som omhandler aldersundersøkelser av enslige mindreårige asylsøkere. [Master s thesis: The right age A reading of texts pertaining to age examinations of unaccompanied underage asylum seekers]. OUC Ingunn Legard Masteroppgave: Forhandlinger om alder. En kvalitativ studie av omsorgsarbeideres aldersforståelser i arbeid med enslige mindreårige asylsøkere på omsorgssenter. [Master s thesis: Negotiations over age. A qualitative study of care workers notions of age in work with unaccompanied underage asylum seekers in care centres]. OUC Al-Rozzi, Emad. Barn på omsorgssenterene for enslige minderårige asylsøkere: Foreløpige resultater fra feltet. FORSA Norge konferanse 2010- Det sosiale i sosialt arbeid; 2010-09-30-2010-10-01. [Children in care centres for unaccompanied underage asylum seekers: Preliminary results from the field. FORSA Conference 2010 The social aspects of social work, 30 September
1 October 2010]. OUC Al-Rozzi, Emad. Care in transition for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children at care centres in Norway: Basic reflections. Nordic Network for Research on Refugee Children Seminar; 2-3 December 2010. OUC Al-Rozzi, Emad. Care in transition: Researching care activities at care centres for unaccompanied asylumseeking children in Norway.. Sommerfugl i vinterland - psykisk helsearbeid med barn og unge med minoritetsbakgrunn; 2010-02-11-2010-02-12. [ Butterfly in a wintry land mental-health work with children and adolescents from minority backgrounds,11-12 February 2010]. OUC Al-Rozzi, Emad. Forskning på omsorgsenteret: Omsorg i overgang for enslige, mindreårige asylsøkere på. Barn og unge på tvers; 2010-06-16-2010-06-17. [Research at the care centre: Care in transition for unaccompanied underage asylum seekers. Child Research Conference, 16-17 June 2010]. OUC Al-Rozzi, Emad. Interviewing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children at care centres during the transitional phase. The 7 th Norwegian Psychology Conference 2010, 30-31 August 2010.. OUC Al-Rozzi, Emad. Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children at care centres in Norway: Researching care in transition. XVII ISA World Congress of Sociology, 11-17 July 2010. OUC E. Children with disabilities and their participation in their own habilitation in the specialist health services (PhD project) Project director: Wenche Bekken (OUC, HF) Supervisors: Benedichte Ingstad (University of Oslo), Bjørg Fallang (OUC) Duration: 2010-2013 Contact: wenche.bekken@hf.hio.no Project goal: to generate knowledge about children s experience of participation in habilitation processes. What are the children s conceptions of participation? How do professionals work to include the children in decision-making processes?
What conceptions lie at the root of this work? Who participates? We will undertake interviews with boys and girls aged 10-15. Five professionals working in a child habilitation centre will also be interviewed and observed during consultations with children. The project aims to help strengthen children s right to co-determination in their own habilitation process in particular, and children s rights in general.