OCRights has established a collaboration with the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision concerning a nationwide supervisory activity in 2026–2027. The activity focuses on NAV offices’ responsibility to assess the best interests of the child when families apply for financial social assistance. The supervisory activity includes self-assessment and improvement work for NAV offices.

In 2022–2023, the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision found that children’s needs were not sufficiently safeguarded when families applied for financial social assistance. The results showed that NAV offices did not adequately map children’s needs, did not carry out sufficiently individual assessments, and made decisions on an insufficient or incorrect basis.

The best interests of the child must be a primary consideration in all actions by public authorities that concern children. When an applicant for social assistance has children, NAV offices must pay particular attention to the children’s needs and assess what is in their best interests.

In collaboration with the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision, researchers at OCRights will use data from the supervisory activity to study how NAV offices map and assess the best interests of the child, and whether supervision contributes to improved practice. Qualitative studies based on the supervisory activity are also planned. The aim is to promote knowledge-based practice and service development.

Project manager: Therese Saltkjel
Partner: The Norwegian Board of Health Supervision / Helsetilsynet 

Flexible Foster Homes is a development project under Sammen for barnets beste. The project aims to develop a more flexible and knowledge-based measure for cases where the child welfare services are considering a care order, or where care has already been transferred without giving up the goal of reunification.

The aim is to strengthen the basis for earlier, more precise and better adapted measures in the best interests of the child. The project will develop a knowledge base, a theory of change and practical tools that can support foster homes, municipal child welfare services and Bufetat in their further work.

Flexible Foster Homes will contribute to clarifying and strengthening parental functioning through support, training and close follow-up, within safe and responsible frameworks. The project will also lay the groundwork for further testing and evaluation of the measure.

Project manager: Asgeir Falch-Eriksen
Partner: Bufetat, Eastern Region

UPSTREAM is a research project that examines whether broad social policies can help prevent child maltreatment before harm occurs. Rather than focusing only on downstream interventions after children and families have entered child welfare services, the project investigates how income support, childcare, labour market measures and other welfare policies may reduce the social and economic pressures that increase the risk of abuse and neglect.

Using population-wide administrative data from Norway, the project will study the effects of six major welfare reforms on child maltreatment and related inequalities. It will also examine the mechanisms through which these policies may work, including household stress, social inclusion and human capital formation. By analysing how different forms of public support affect families across social groups, UPSTREAM aims to generate new knowledge about how welfare states can better protect children through preventive and redistributive policy.

The project contributes to research, policy and public debate on child welfare, social inequality and the long-term sustainability of the welfare state.

Project manager: Kjetil van der Wel