Displaying 1 - 10 of 14
Several youth facilities have devoted considerable resources to improving the quality of practice and the interest in understanding the safety needs of youth in residential care has grown. However, there is limited research that considers how youth in residential facilities themselves define and experience safety, what their safety concerns are, and how they would like systems and staff to respond to their needs. Therefore, this current study investigated youth perceptions of safety in residential facilities in Norway and their experiences of and reaction to staff behaviors and attitudes.
Abstract
Trauma informed care (TIC) emphasizes the importance of professionals maintaining an emotionally regulated state. We interviewed eight staff members in a residential care unit for children and adolescents where TIC had been implemented, about situations wherein they experienced difficulty regulating their own emotions. We identified three major narratives in informants’ descriptions: (1) “Are we doing the right things?”, (2) “My childhood issues surfaced”, and (3) “Missing togetherness with trusted others.” The narratives illustrate the emotional strain that can be evoked when…
Abstract
How is care arranged for unaccompanied refugee minors at residential care institutions, and what kind of conditions do these arrangements constitute for young persons' well‐being and development? Informed by developmental perspectives that consider young people's development through participation across contexts in everyday life and by research into how parents in ‘ordinary’ families organize care, we developed a study based on interviews with 15 unaccompanied refugee minors and their professional caregivers at residential care institutions. The interviews were analysed…
Throughout history, technological development has had a major impact on society as a whole. Today we find that access to the internet is ubiquitous, and in recent years this has touched the lives particularly of children and young people. As most young people in Norway own a smartphone, the web has become significantly more integrated into their lives, bringing with it many new opportunities. At the same time, it can lead to challenges, including the increased incidence of sexual offences committed against children over the internet. There is reason to believe that children and adolescents…
Abstract
Without access to their own families, how do young, unaccompanied refugee minors re-establish their social lives in ways that facilitate a sense of togetherness in their everyday lives during resettlement? This question was approached by exploring the young persons’ creation of relational practices and the kinds of sociomaterial conditions that seemed to facilitate the evolvement of these practices, including the professional caregivers’ contributions. Interviews with 11 boys and 4 girls (aged 13–16) from Afghanistan, Somalia, Angola and Sri Lanka, as well as their professional…
This report presents an evaluation of the family home model as part of the 'Our New Children' project in Norway, a collaborative project between SOS Children’s Villages, Asker Municipality and the Housing bank that seeks to "assess the establishment of family homes as the housing and care solution for single minor refugees." The report reviews existing housing and care solutions for settling single minor refugees in different municipalities in Norway, presenting examples of good practices.
The aim of the project is to "develop a model that has transfer value to…
In preparation for the Expert Meeting on Alternative Care and Family Support in the Baltic Sea Region - held in Tallinn, Estonia in May 2015 - the Children’s Unit in cooperation with the Expert Group for Cooperation on Children at Risk conducted a mapping of family support and alternative care services in the Baltic Sea Region Member States. The objective of this mapping was to analyse the situation, assess the achievements since the 2005 Ministerial Forum and to identify relevant opportunities and challenges for the future.
This report documents, assesses, and analyses the state of…
Government representatives, experts and professionals from the Baltic Sea Region including Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, the Russian Federation, Sweden and wider Europe gathered at a two-day expert meeting in Tallinn, Estonia and, together, endorsed a set of recommendations and action plan on alternative care and family support on 6 May 2015. This report provides an overview of the meeting and the presentations and discussions that took place on the topics of regional cooperation on alternative care, promoting quality care for children in the…
This background paper was developed as part of a regional study which gathered relevant data and information on family support and alternative care in the eleven Member States of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS): Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, the Russian Federation and Sweden. The aim of this study was to identify progress and challenges in preventing family separation and safeguarding the rights of children in alternative care in the region. This background paper offers a comprehensive and detailed overview of the situation of…
Abstract
Most adolescents are placed in residential youth care (RYC) because of severe psychosocial strains and child maltreatment, which represent risk factors for developing mental disorders. To plan RYC units and ensure that residents receive evidence-based psychiatric interventions, it is necessary to obtain reliable and valid prevalence estimates of mental disorders in this population. However, there is a lacuna of research on diagnoses derived from standardized clinical interviews. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and comorbidity of mental disorders…