Child welfare removals by the State across countries

Removing a child from hers or his parents is one of the most sensitive decisions a nation-state can make. The forthcoming book “Child Welfare Removals By the State. A Cross-Country Analysis of Decisions-Making Systems“, that will be published on Oxford University Press this November, addresses a most important and under-researched legal proceeding: when the State intervenes in the private family sphere to remove children at risk to a place of safety, adoption, or other form of out-of-home care.

Marit Skivenes, the Coordinator for Child Rights and a Steering Committee Member at the Centre on Law and Social Transformation, has edited the book together with the scholars Kenneth Burns and Tarja Pösö. They argue that the literature on Child Welfare Removals by the State has lacked a cross-country analysis of the different models of decision-making in a European context.

Their new book presents new research at the intersection of social work, law, and social policy concerning child protection proceedings for children in need of alternative care, covering a range of territories including the social democratic Nordic countries, the conservative corporatist regimes and the neo-liberal child welfare systems.