Researcher Hege Stein Helland recently visited Royal Holloway, University of London for a research stay, participating in two interdisciplinary conferences on home and wellbeing and family law reform. Read more on our website. 🔗 discretion.w.uib.no/2026/06/03/h...

Norway is proposing to ban social media for under-16s, joining Australia and others in a growing global trend. Professor Skivenes supports the ban as a first step, but stresses it cannot stand alone. Read more here: discretion.w.uib.no/2026/05/29/n...

Marit Skivenes presented at the launch of Child-Centred Music Therapy on 22 May, offering perspectives on child rights. The book by Viggo Krüger and Kathleen Murphy uses the UNCRC as a framework for music therapy with children and adolescents. Read more: discretion.w.uib.no/2026/05/26/m...

New research in BMJ shows adopted children from high-risk families fared better in adulthood than their siblings. DIPA researcher Hege Stein Helland comments on what the findings mean for child welfare. More information here: discretion.w.uib.no/2026/05/20/h... Photo by Melanie Burford, UiB.

A book review of the edited volume on child protection and the European Court of Human Rights has just been published in Child Abuse Review. It is described as an essential reading for those advancing children's rights. 👏 Read the full announcement here: discretion.w.uib.no/2026/05/08/b...

DIPA director Prof. Marit Skivenes recently gave a keynote at VIA University College in Aarhus, Denmark.😊 Read more: discretion.w.uib.no/2026/05/05/k...

What does autonomy really mean for young people on social media, and does Norway's proposed ban protect it or violate it?📱 In a new blog post, Professor Marit Skivenes argues that the answer depends on how you define autonomy. Read the full blog post here: discretion.w.uib.no/2026/04/30/t...

What shapes public support for children’s participation? A new study by Marit Skivenes and Katrin Križ explores how people across the Nordic countries justify children’s right to be heard. Read more here: discretion.w.uib.no/2026/04/29/c...

We are hiring!🎉 Two PhD positions in political science at the Department of Government, UiB. 1. A 3-year position at DIPA, as part of the PROTECT project 2. An open 4-year position at the Department of Government. For more information, see here: discretion.w.uib.no/.../two-phd-... 😊

DIPA researchers recently participated in the European Conference for Social Work Research (ECSWR) in Aberdeen, Scotland. Marit Skivenes, Hege Stein Helland and Mathea Loen presented three papers from the ongoing CPS-World project. Read the full news post here: discretion.w.uib.no/2026/04/24/d...

Isabel Fidalgo (PhD candidate) will be visiting DIPA from 23–30 April. She is presenting "What matters to me: a focused ethnography of children's agency in adoption preparation" in our Law, Politics and Welfare group on 23 April at 14:15! Location: Styrerommet, Christies Gate 17 All are welcome!

What shapes adolescents’ trust in the child welfare system? In a new article, Hege Stein Helland examines how institutional contact and perceived performance influence young people’s trust in child welfare services. You can read about it here: discretion.w.uib.no/.../adolesce...

How should children’s rights be protected when age itself is uncertain? In this blog post, Ingi Iusmen examines age assessment practices in the UK asylum system and how unreliable methods can lead to unaccompanied children being wrongly classified as adults: discretion.w.uib.no/2026/02/23/w...

Join us at Christies gate 17 (2nd floor, Styrerommet/room 17.103) for #RDVSeminar this Thursday, 22 January (14:15-15:00 CET), as Professor Stefanie Schurer from the University of Sydney will present on “Youth who go missing from care: characteristics and risk profiles”.

Join us at Christies gate 17 (2nd floor, Styrerommet/room 17.103) for #RDVSeminar this Thursday, 22 January (14:15-15:00 CET), as Professor Stefanie Schurer from the University of Sydney will present on “Youth who go missing from care: characteristics and risk profiles”.

We are excited to announce the publication of our latest blog post, "When religion and a child’s stability in foster care clash: people choose stability," written by Professor Marit Skivenes (@mskivenes.bsky.social). Read the full blog post here: discretion.w.uib.no/2026/01/12/w...

Professor Marit Skivenes (@mskivenes.bsky.social) has recently been invited to speak and participate in a research seminar titled "Children, Youth and Crime in the Welfare State" in Copenhagen, Denmark, organised by VIVE. Read more on our website: discretion.w.uib.no/2025/11/25/p...

Last month, DIPA hosted a book launch for Child Protection and the European Court of Human Rights: Lessons from Norway in the Development and Contestation of Children’s Rights. More details on the book launch event: discretion.w.uib.no/2025/10/22/b... #ChildProtection #ECtHR #Norway

We are pleased to announce that Professor Skivenes, Berrick, and Predoctoral Fellow Pratama have recently participated in the European Scientific Association on Residential and Family Care for Children and Adolescents 2025 Conference in Zagreb. Read more: discretion.w.uib.no/2025/10/17/d...

We are glad to inform you that DIPA Researcher Hege Helland and Post-Doc Mathea Loen have recently participated in the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) General Conference 2025 at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Read more: discretion.w.uib.no/2025/10/07/d...

[UPCOMING EVENT] Join us for the launch of "Child Protection and the European Court of Human Rights: Lessons from Norway in the Development and Contestation of Children’s Rights" and a conversation with the editors Hege Stein Helland, Marit Skivenes & Siri Gloppen

NEW ARTICLE: "What about their future? An analysis of child protection systems’ focus on the future of new-born children in care order decisions"

We are pleased to announce that researchers from DIPA, Prof. Skivenes, Prof. Berrick, Dr. Helland, & Dr. Loen, have recently participated in the 2025 International Political Science Association (@ipsa.org) World Congress of Political Science, in Seoul. Read more: discretion.w.uib.no/2025/08/01/d...

We are glad to share a new publication by our new Postdoctoral Fellow, Mathea Loen (@mathealo.bsky.social), in the journal "Governance". The study analyses European citizens’ attitudes toward public welfare institutions in terms of their compliance. Read more: discretion.w.uib.no/2025/07/02/n...

Excited to share a new publication by Prof. Berrick, Prof. Gloppen, Dr. Margarido and Prof. Skivenes in the International Journal of Children’s Rights! The study analyses children’s constitutional visibility using constitutional texts (193 countries). Read more: discretion.w.uib.no/2025/06/25/a...

We are delighted to announce that our PhD Candidate, Mathea Loen (@mathealo.bsky.social), has successfully defended her dissertation, “Protecting Children, Preserving Trust,” and has therefore acquired a PhD from the University of Bergen! More on her defence: discretion.w.uib.no/2025/06/25/p...

Earlier this month, Professor Marit Skivenes (@mskivenes.bsky.social) was invited to a webinar on Children’s Rights and Participation by the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL)'s NORBARN Research School. Read more here: discretion.w.uib.no/2025/06/20/p... (Featured picture: NORBARN)

We are thrilled to announce that DIPA's Mathea Loen (@mathealo.bsky.social) will defend her PhD degree at the Department of Government, University of Bergen on June 20, 2025, with the dissertation "Protecting Children, Preserving Trust". discretion.w.uib.no/2025/06/11/m...

Join us at Bergen Global (@bergenglobal.bsky.social) for the #RDVseminar this Friday, 6 June (9:00 – 10:15 CEST), where Assistant Professor Zalman Rothschild from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law will present a topic titled “(Un)Constitutional Educational Indoctrination”.

We are excited to announce the publication of our latest blog post, "How can Norwegian child protection preserve trust and protect children? " written by PhD Candidate Mathea Loen (@mathealo.bsky.social). Read the full blog post here: discretion.w.uib.no/2025/05/28/h...

We are excited to share a new publication by Post Doc Audun Løvlie (@lovlie.bsky.social) in the International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family. The study analyses how judicial decision-makers in #Norway confront the dilemmas of incorporating #childparticipation in #childwelfare cases.

We are delighted to announce that Prof. Marit Skivenes (@mskivenes.bsky.social), Tarja Pösö, and June Thoburn (@jthobu.bsky.social) are invited to present on "Adoption from Care" book by Research Institute for Children’s Social Care, Waseda University, on 12 May 2025 (Online).

I am excited to announce my latest paper! It examines judicial decision-makers and their confrontation with dilemmas of children's right to participate. #childrights #childprotection #CPS @discretionuib.bsky.social #judicialindependence #discretion #decisionmaking academic.oup.com/lawfam/artic...

Recommending the @discretionuib.bsky.social blog on "The Nordic culture for child participation," by my good colleague Marit Skivenes on how child-centric Nordic societies still struggle to balance child protection and participation: discretion.w.uib.no/%E2%80%A6/th...

We are excited to announce the publication of our latest blog post, "The Nordic culture for child participation," written by Professor Marit Skivenes (@mskivenes.bsky.social). Read the full blog post here: discretion.w.uib.no/2025/04/30/t...

New paper - with unique data from 2008 to 2021 - about the Norwegian decisions on contact rights after a care order : www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... @discretionuib.bsky.social @hellejohansen.bsky.social

New research from the Nordic countries shows strong public support for children’s right to information and for giving weight to their opinions in child protection cases. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... @lawtransform.bsky.social @conorom.bsky.social @sirigloppen.bsky.social

Our new paper is out. @discretionuib.bsky.social @mskivenes.bsky.social #childrights #paternalism Support for children's rights is strong in the Nordics.

Gladly announcing that Frøydis Lønborg Haarberg, Katrin Križ, Audun Løvlie (@lovlie.bsky.social), and Marit Skivenes (@mskivenes.bsky.social) from DIPA have recently published a scientific article in the European Journal of Social Work on balancing #Paternalism and #ChildRights in #Nordic countries.

We are delighted to announce that Prof. Marit Skivenes (@mskivenes.bsky.social), Tarja Pösö, and June Thoburn (@jthobu.bsky.social) are invited to present on "Adoption from Care" book by Research Institute for Children’s Social Care, Waseda University, on 12 May 2025 (Online).

Bli med på Barnevernfrokost, fredag 4 april kl. 9:00, der Dr. Elisabeth Backe-Hansen diskuterer lisensiering av barnevernsinstitusjoner på tvers av nordiske land. Mer informasjon kan finnes her: discretion.w.uib.no/event/proses...

Join us on our #Barnevernfrokost webinar on Friday, 04.04 (9:00 CEST), where Dr. Elisabeth Backe-Hansen will discuss on licensing of child welfare institutions across Nordic countries (in Norwegian). Find more information here: discretion.w.uib.no/event/proses...

Despite the challenging geopolitical climate, particularly due to Trump 2.0, Brazil is preparing to invigorate COP 30, which takes place in Belém in November. Find out more from Danielle Rached ➡️ Thur 27 March 🕦 2:15 pm 🇳🇴 here/zoom ☕

Look forward to this seminar with Livia Buzyolin on #Sexual&ReproductiveRights in #Brazil after Bolzonaro. Thursday 13 March 14:15 at @bergenglobal.bsky.social 📌 www.lawtransform.no/event/dealin... @lawtransform.bsky.social @discretionuib.bsky.social #SkeivForsk-UiB @unibergen.bsky.social

Join our #Barnevernfrokost webinar on Friday, 28.02, where Professor Gunn Astrid Baugerud will discuss AI-based methods for training in best-practice conversations with children! Find more information here: discretion.w.uib.no/event/ai-bas... @lawtransform.bsky.social @mskivenes.bsky.social

Excited to share the new publication by researchers Jill Duerr Berrick, Kenneth Burns, Tarja Pösö, Joseph N. Roscoe, and Marit Skivenes (@mskivenes.bsky.social)! The study analyses youth views about parenting, parental freedom, and child safety. More on the link: discretion.w.uib.no/2025/02/14/a...

Professor Marit Skivenes (@mskivenes.bsky.social) was featured in Bergens Tidende (@bt.no.web.brid.gy) in an article on the child welfare crisis in Norway. Read more here: discretion.w.uib.no/2025/02/13/p...

On Friday, Jan. 31 we will host our #RDV-seminar “Navigating Queerphobia and Anti-Gender Narratives in a Politicized World” with Ato Sogunro, Dr. Matthew Gichohi, Erwin Navarro, and Dr. Liv Tønnessen as speakers. Read more about the event here: discretion.uib.no/events/rdv-l...

Yesterday, we concluded another #RDV-seminar with Dr. Marry-Anne Karlsen who delivered an engaging presentation titled "Precarious Inclusion: Irregular Migration, Welfare Policy & State Borders in Norway." Recording now available: discretion.uib.no/rdv-seminar-...

Exciting news! Our book "Adoption from Care" has been translated into Japanese. The cover is absolutely stunning! This volume, which I edited with June Thoburn and Tarja Pösö, explores the complex balance of children's rights, family preservation, and state intervention in adoption processes.