A tale of two cases – investigating reasoning in similar cases with different outcomes

Figures & data

Table 1. Key facts for Estonian, Finnish and Norwegian child protection systems.

	Estonia	Finland	Norway
Children in out-of-home care, per 1.000 children (2016)	10#	16,5^	10,3#
Newborn care order cases (2016) (% approved)	4(75%)	25(96%)	76(93,4%)
Relevant law	Family Law Act, §134 (1)	Child Welfare Act, Chapter 9 Section 40(1)	Child Protection Law §§4–12(a) and (d)

# = stock data; from one point in the year, ^ = flow data; total number throughout the year.

Sources: (Berrick et al., 2023; Centre for Research on Discretion and Paternalism, 2021; Statistics Estonia, 2022).

Table 2. Pair characteristics.

Pair A	Pair B
2 Norwegian cases:	2 Norwegian cases:
A_NOR_rem	B_NOR_rem
A_NOR_nonrem	B_NOR_nonrem (split decision)
Maternal substance misuse and cognitive issues	Maternal substance misuse and mental health issues
Father is no help	Previous children removed
Stay in parent-child center	Removed straight from hospital
Pair C	Pair D
2 Finnish cases:	2 Estonian cases:
C_FIN_rem	D_EST_rem
C_FIN_nonrem Maternal mental health and cognitive issues	D_EST_nonrem Maternal substance misuse
Domestic violence	Previous children removed
Stay in supervised setting	Removed straight from hospital
Inadequate care	Lack of interest in child

Figure 1. Reasoning volume in number of words.

Table 3. Concluding reasons.

Concluding reasons	Present in
Child’s best interests/welfare/rights	A_NOR_rem B_NOR_rem C_FIN_rem D_EST_nonrem
Parents providing inadequate care	A_NOR_rem B_NOR_rem C_FIN_rem D_EST_rem
Assistive services are sufficient/insufficient	A_NOR_nonrem B_NOR_nonresm C_FIN_rem C_FIN_nonrem
Threshold not crossed	D_EST_nonrem
Positive parental effort	D_EST_nonrem

Table A1. Overview over the data material the pairs were selected from.

	Year(s)	All judgments or publicly available	Whole country / large area
Austria	2016–2017	All judgments	Large area
England	2015–2017	Publicly available	Whole country
Estonia	2015–2017	All judgments	Whole country
Finland	2016	All judgments	Whole country
Germany	2015–2017	All judgments	Large area
Ireland	2012–2018	Publicly available	Whole country
Norway	2016	All judgments	Whole country
Spain	2016–2017	All judgments	Large area

Table A2. Overview over codes used for selection of paper data material.

Name	Description
Country	The country the case comes from.
Year	The year in which the case was decided.
Substance misuse	The mother is described as currently or previously misusing illegal drugs, alcohol and/or legal drugs. This does not have to result in addiction. Moderate alcohol use is not included unless stated as a risk. Alcohol use resulting in aggression/loss of control is included.
Perpetrator of domestic violence	The mother is reported to commit domestic violence towards the child, siblings or other parent. Includes suspicious injuries to other children in the home, and sexual abuse allegations.
Mental health issues	Cases where mother has clear cognitive limitations. This can range from severe learning difficulties to reduced cognitive function. It is often referred to WAIS tests, other IQ and ability tests when these limitations are to be investigated and the score is below normal range.
Having previous children taken into care	Previous children of the mother were placed in care, or mother has a clear history of previous child welfare interventions regarding her children.
Parenting insufficiencies	Includes general parenting insufficiencies: this is used as description of the overall assessment of the mothers ability to provide care which can include an unstable lifestyle, lack of capacity to interpret situations, poor interaction, poor daily functions in general, poor emotional connection, immaturity, anxiety and conflict, lack of willingness to change, lacking ability to see the child’s needs, lack of ability to shield the child from adult issues, irrational decision making, personality traits etc. Can also include immature parents. Includes chaotic lifestyle: Family household lacks stability, mother has frequently changing partners, mother cannot hold down a job, unstable relationship between parents, mother struggles with bureaucratic tasks or ensure regular school attendance / doctor's appointments of children. Includes housing issues: Overcrowded housing, homelessness, messy housing, and housing unsuitable for children. Includes financial issues: Poverty, financial hardship situation. Does not include if the mother has a financial guardian (Norwegian: økonomisk verge).
Learning difficulties	Cases where mother has a clearly defined mental health issue. Includes psychiatric disorders like anxiety, depression, schizophrenia and other personality disorders. Includes also self-harm and suicidality. Some diagnoses are more temporary and others more permanent. The key is that mental health problems are included as a risk factor in the decision-makers assessment. This means also that decision-makers express concern regarding mother’s mental health.

Case sorting and selection process for paper data material.

Figure A1. Case selection process. Blue boxes are steps, green boxes are actions.

Berrick, J. D., Gilbert, N., & Skivenes, M. (2023). Child protection systems across the world. In J. D. Berrick, N. Gilbert, & M. Skivenes (Eds.), Oxford handbook of child protection systems. Oxford University Press.

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Centre for Research on Discretion and Paternalism. (2021). Description of coding results—216 care order cases concerning newborn children. Centre for Research on Discretion and Paternalism. https://discretion.uib.no/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Newborn-Description-of-coding-results.pdf.

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Statistics Estonia. (2022, December 5). RV021: POPULATION, 1 JANUARY by Sex, Year and Age group. Statistical Database. Statistics Estonia. https://andmed.stat.ee/en/stat/rahvastik__rahvastikunaitajad-ja-koosseis__rahvaarv-ja-rahvastiku-koosseis/RV021/table/tableViewLayout2.

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