Introduction

Background

FAMWEL will contribute to improving practices in child protection so that children and families receive good help. Through practical experience, knowledge and learning, social workers must be able to develop new understandings, try out new approaches and forms of collaboration in work with vulnerable children and their families.

The child protection agency's task is to ensure that children and young people who live in conditions that can harm their health and development get the necessary help at the right time (Bvl. §1). At the same time, research shows that families and children in complex life situations receive the least amount of help from child protection. There may be a lack of help or that the help is not adapted to the current life situation. The child protection agency's work involves meeting families who have major challenges in their everyday lives, both when it comes to providing the child with safe growing conditions. At the same time, they often have living conditions challenges such as low income, poor living conditions, health problems and a weak network. Child protection is therefore required to be constantly developing in order to meet the complex needs for help in the service. One of the measures to meet the growing need for expertise in the service is that by 2031 employees in municipal child welfare must have a master's degree in child welfare or equivalent (Bvl. §15-6).

This lab therefore has as its starting point social workers who are taking a master's degree in child welfare work and who will be important actors in shaping the future of child welfare in Norway.

Purpose and goals

By participating in FAMWEL, social workers will gain knowledge and experience in developing innovation projects in work with vulnerable children and families. Through collaboration with various practice actors, social workers must develop innovative work that must be documented and that over time aims to provide increased competence for the individual participant and for partners in practice. Central is the development of a critical and analytical view in order to create new understandings that provide an innovative practice. This requires social workers to be active and lead a professional development process where various measures are tried out that aim to provide good help for vulnerable children and families in contact with the support system.

Partner organizations and collaboration

1. Department of Social Work, NTNU

Participants:

Anne Moe, professor, Bente H. Kojan, professor, Edgar Marthinsen, professor, Hilde Marie Thrana, professor, Lena Augusta Ulfseth, associate professor (project manager), Willy Lichtwarck, professor.

2. Partners from practice

The collaboration between NTNU and partners is based on an agreement that social workers plan/implement innovative practice within the field of child protection. The social workers attend classes and receive guidance from NTNU before taking an exam in a subject on the master's program in child welfare work (7.5 ETC).

• Ullern district, Oslo

Contact person: Bjørn Arne Winsnes, Salto coordinator, Bodel Ullern

• Trondheim University Municipality, Children and Family Services

Contact person: Sture Wærness, Berit Skauge, Nina Helen Aas Røkkum, Lene Markussen, Siri Bjårstad, Ingvild Dahl.

• Other municipalities in Norway

Various municipalities and child welfare institutions from other municipalities in Norway

The target group

The target group consists of families and children with complex problems who are in contact with child protection or other welfare services. The challenges in their everyday life will encompass both structural, group and individual level and may involve problems such as school dropout, poverty, domestic violence, drug problems, health problems, lack of social networks and general alienation in the local community. This will require different strategies and approaches for, for the individual family with open innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration with various agencies. We have therefore invested in trying out a relatively large number of innovation projects that have a limited time frame with specific activities.

IVi will therefore show examples of three different innovation projects that show variations in how the innovation projects are designed and different target groups.

Example 1, Innovation lab - Trondheim municipality - An inclusive community "Tempesnakk"

Tempesnakk is an already established event in the Tempe-Sorgenfri district. It takes place approximately twice a year and provides an opportunity for residents of the borough to meet to talk about developments in their borough. It is largely ethnic Norwegians who participate in the district's activities, even though the statistics for the area show a more heterogeneous population. The aim of this innovation project is therefore to achieve a more diverse participation in Tempesnakk. The target group therefore includes all residents in the neighborhood and the goal is to get more residents to participate in Tempesnakk, as this activity now primarily only attracts older, ethnically Norwegian participants. The focus of the innovation project will therefore mainly be on families, individuals and children with different cultural backgrounds. This is to ensure that Tempesnakk is inclusive for people with a non-Norwegian cultural background and of different ages.

Example 2, Innovation lab - Trondheim municipality - Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in practice

The target group for the project includes the most vulnerable children with various disabilities. These children have specific rights and needs, which require cooperation between different agencies and extensive individual support. The aim is to work with the relevant agencies to become more aware of the barriers for a more holistic approach and develop measures that are holistic towards this group of children and young people. The idea is that this can lead to simpler and better measures for the children.

Example 3 - innovation laboratory - Trondheim municipality - Use of the knowledge model "The child in the centre" as a tool in the child welfare's decision-making process

In the innovation project, we want to focus on case managers and employees at the Child and Family Service in Østbyen. This target group consists of employees with different social work backgrounds and experience. Among them, some have many years of experience in the service, while others are newly qualified and working for the first time in child protection. This means that the employees often have different approaches in their work with children and families when dealing with child protection.