Lecture room: Oddi – 201. Click for a map.
Working institution
PhD Candidate, Research Centre for Child and Youth Competence Development, Lillehammer University College, Norway
Abstract
In Norway, the Child Protection Act requires that before the Child Welfare Service (CWS) can implement interventions and measures within families, parental consent is conditional. Understanding and recognizing parents as gatekeepers in the sense of giving the CWS access to children, calls for an understanding of how parents experience interaction with the CWS. Listening to parents’ voices on how they experience the CWS’ interventions and measures is essential to develop better interaction between families and the CWS.
The study, “The New Child Welfare” (NCW), was conducted in Norway over a five-year period during 2008-2012. In this study, 715 families in contact with the CWS answered a questionnaire. Additionally 96 parents and 17 children from the original sample participated in qualitative interviews. One of the most significant findings of the study was that the most marginalized families in the selection were also the least likely to receive interventions and support that would improve family function. My Ph.D.-study takes the NCW study as its’ point of origin, and the marginalized group of families as my sample.
In my study, I focus on life story interviews related to parental experiences of receiving interventions and support from the CWS. Analyzing the interviews, I use ‘The Listening Guide’. The method has a narrative approach as it follows the lead of the participant speaking. In doing so it listens to the expression of the participant’s multiple layers of voices in order to discover the constructions of mind through language.
In this presentation, I focus on ‘The Listening Guide’ as a method to seek, to listen, and to understand the different voices of these marginalized families. The findings so far develop better understandings of these families. These finding can inform policy and provide new and improved ways for the CWS to meet the needs of these families.