This article is part of a special edition of the journal Psychosocial Intervention (Volume 22 No.03 December 2013) focused on the state of child protection in a wide variety of countries with special attention to out-of-home care placements, principally family foster care and residential care, tough several aspects related to adoption were included as well.
An overview of the current situation in the out-of-home care in Norway and Sweden is presented in this article; also the development in later years is described and discussed. Socially, politically and culturally there are few differences between Norway and Sweden. Child protection and out-of-home placement of children and young people are integrated parts in the welfare state that are shared by the Nordic countries. It is a model that builds on principles of universalism and decommodification of social rights. The welfare model presupposes high public legitimacy for a high level of social expenditure. However the idea of marketization and privatization has also affected the welfare model in Sweden and Norway. Although there are more similarities than differences between the two countries' child protection systems, the article discusses some differences, for example the after care services, new groups of children and young people in the out-of-home care, like young unaccompanied asylum seekers. There are also some differences when it comes to privatization, the introduction of evidence-based methods in the child protection system and the tension between general and residual services for children and young people in the child protection system.
The article highlights that the welfare model has changed greatly in Sweden during the last decade. Almost all sectors of the welfare system have been affected by the idea of marketization, which implies an ever-increasing privatization of the welfare system. The number of private, commercial actors within the care sector in Norway has increased as well during the last two decades, including out-of-home care for children and young people. Even if developments in Norway do not quite parallel those in Sweden, there seems to be a general agreement that the Nordic welfare states need to be restructured if they are to survive. This restructuring may well lead to more prominent roles for private actors in some sectors.
©Psychosocial Intervention 22 (2013) 251-7 - Vol. 22 No.03