Resistance and protest against Norwegian Child Welfare Services on Facebook - different perceptions of child-centring

ABSTRACT

Norwegian Child Welfare Services have in recent years been subject to international and national criticism. This paper addresses the protests against Norwegian Child Welfare Services that are unfolding on international and Norwegian Facebook groups. The purpose of the paper is to gain insight into the message of large open Facebook groups that protest child welfare services. Furthermore, I discuss whether this may be interpreted as a reaction to a particular socio-political orientation – child-centring. There is little research on protest groups against child welfare services on social media. Norway presents itself as a particularly child-centred country, with a strong emphasis on children's rights; therefore, it may be particularly interesting to study protest groups against Norwegian Child Welfare Services. The paper is based on a review of the field through a perusal of posts on a broad range of Facebook pages against child welfare services in 2016, an examination of six groups and the collection of data from one group (with permission). The data are analyzed with child-centring as the analytical perspective. The international groups are protesting the fact that the state have the authority to move children away from their families, while the Norwegian groups are protesting abuse of power, injustice and unethical professional conduct. These groups are child-centred in a way that differs from the way in which professional child-centring is described in the literature. The analyses provide important insight into experiences and perceptions that may contribute to the formulation of child welfare policy.

KEYWORDS:

• Child-centring
• protests on Facebook
• Child Welfare Services

Notes

1. This may be considered as a potential weakness of the material as this group was extra large and rapidly expanding at the time of collection as well as the fact that it can likely be characterized as particularly extreme in terms of its perception of child welfare services.