Heidi Aarum Hansen

• Hansen, Heidi Aarum & Gerdts-Andresen, Tina (2026). Making Sense of Parental Resistance in Involuntary Child Welfare Relationships: Child Welfare Workers' Perspectives. Child & Family Social Work. ISSN 1356-7500. doi: 10.1111/cfs.70272. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  ABSTRACT This study explores how child welfare workers make sense of involuntary child welfare relationships. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 11 frontline professionals in Norwegian child welfare services, the study uses reflexive thematic analysis to examine how child welfare workers interpret parental resistance in light of relational, emotional and structural dynamics in child welfare practice. The analysis identifies three interconnected themes: (1) parents' experience of insecurity, (2) feelings of alienation and (3) organizational conditions for relational practice. Drawing on theoretical perspectives on relational recognition and structural constraint in professional child welfare encounters, the study highlights how resistance is not merely a product of individual opposition but rather emerges within asymmetrical, often involuntary professional relationships shaped by limited discretion, procedural demands and organizational pressures. Child welfare workers reflect on how time constraints and administrative requirements hinder their ability to build trust and engage in meaningful dialogue, often reinforcing transactional dynamics. The findings suggest that parental resistance should be understood as both a relational response and a systemic outcome. The study contributes to debates on professional discretion, relational practice and participatory approaches by showing how parental resistance becomes intelligible to child welfare workers at the intersection of relational vulnerability, professional authority and organizational constraint.

• Gerdts-Andresen, Tina; Eriksen, Anette Ødegård & Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2026). How involuntary child removal shapes parents’ everyday lives: implications for child welfare practice. Children and Youth Services Review. ISSN 0190-7409. s. 109074–109074. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2026.109074. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Hansen, Heidi Aarum; Bjørktomta, Siv-Britt & Gerdts-Andresen, Tina (2025). Bridging theory and practice in child welfare education: preparing students for practice. European Journal of Social Work. ISSN 1369-1457. s. 14–14. doi: 10.1080/13691457.2025.2554334. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Hansen, Heidi Aarum & Gerdts-Andresen, Tina (2025). Ensuring successful child-parent visitations for children in public care: perspectives from child welfare workers. Nordic Social Work Research. ISSN 2156-857X. doi: 10.1080/2156857X.2025.2492009. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Gerdts-Andresen, Tina; Andersen, Marie Valen-Sendstad & Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2024). The child's right to family life when living in public care: how to facilitate contact that preserves, strengthens, and develops family ties. Children and Youth Services Review. ISSN 0190-7409. 159, s. 1–8. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2024.107495. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  This study addresses children’s right to family life when placed in public care and questions how the Child Welfare Service and the Child Welfare Tribunal understand and facilitate this right within a Norwegian context. Based on a thematic analysis of 18 interviews, factors that have the potential to contribute to and challenge the strengthening and development of ties are presented. The implications of these factors for practice are discussed in light of the value of family life, the double role of foster parents, and the use of discretion when balancing children’s right to family life and their need for protection.

• Hansen, Heidi Aarum; Westerhof, Luuk Luitsen & Gerdts-Andresen, Tina (2024). From frozen words to dialogue: turning around involuntary relationships in social work practice. Nordic Social Work Research. ISSN 2156-857X. s. 1–12. doi: 10.1080/2156857X.2024.2395938. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Based on relationship-based practice discussed within a theoretical framework of recognition and salutogenic theory, this study draws on eleven experiences of individual child welfare workers. It highlights how to turn a hostile climate into collaboration in cases where families yield strong resistance. To turn resistance into cooperation, the child welfare workers within this study emphasize the importance of investing time and exploring resources within the family. Study findings suggest that the recognition framework may increase and strengthen the child welfare workers understanding of the value of the child and parents’ inherent resources. How a relationship-based practice may enhance cooperation with children and parents is discussed.

• Hansen, Heidi Aarum & Gerdts-Andresen, Tina (2023). Barns rett til medvirkning. Betydningen av barns medvirkning i Barneverns- og helsenemndas beslutningsprosess, når sak om omsorgsovertakelse behandles. Tidsskriftet Norges Barnevern. ISSN 0800-1014. 100(4), s. 260–275. doi: 10.18261/tnb.100.4.5. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Flere tidligere studier har omhandlet barnets rett til medvirkning i rettslige beslutningsprosesser i barnevernssaker både nasjonalt og internasjonalt. Denne studien skiller seg fra tidligere studier ved at det rettes fokus mot betydningen av barnets uttalte mening som del av beslutningsgrunnlaget når Barneverns- og helsenemnda vurderer sak om omsorgsovertakelse. Studien baserer seg på intervju med nemndsledere tilhørende ulike nemndsregioner. Det tematisk-analytiske arbeidet genererte tre overordnede tema som bidrar til å forstå betydningen av barns medvirkning i beslutningsprosesser: forståelse og praktisering av medvirkning, betydningen av alder og modenhet, og vekting av barnets mening som del av beslutningsgrunnlaget. Studien reiser spørsmål knyttet til hvordan nemndslederne forstår og forvalter barns medvirkningsrett.

• Kvakic, Minela; Fineide, Mona Jerndahl & Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2023). If digitalization is the answer–what is the problem? An analysis of policy documents related to the digitalization of Norwegian child welfare services. Nordic Social Work Research. ISSN 2156-857X. doi: 10.1080/2156857X.2023.2277255. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  In this article, we have analysed policy documents related to the digitalization of the Norwegian child welfare services. The project ‘DigiBarnevern’ is a national initiative intended to develop and improve the digital tools in child welfare services. In our article, we explore which arguments for digitalizing child welfare are used in Norwegian policy documents. The analysis is inspired by Carol Bacchi’s analytical approach of ‘What’s the problem represented to be?’ This approach starts with the premise that policy documents are produced and implemented as answers to specific problems. Our analysis shows how the problems represented are inefficient services, a lack of systematization, arbitrary practices, and the lack of a quality system. Thus, digitalization seems to be the answer to comprehensive problems in child welfare services. By drawing on the literature of street-level bureaucracy and professional discretion, we discuss features of digital systems such as their potential to measure quality and how they can serve as tools to meet the aim of regulating frontline workers` room for discretion. Policy documents are not neutral tools. Instead, they are instruments and carriers of values that affect service provision and ultimately the clients.

• Hansen, Heidi Aarum & Gerdts-Andresen, Tina (2023). How children’s navigation on digital platforms challenges child welfare assessments. Nordic Journal of Social Research. 14(1), s. 1–15. doi: 10.18261/njsr.14.1.1. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  When a child is placed in public care, digital platforms create an arena for the child and parents to stay updated on each other’s lives while living apart. However, contact through digital platforms can be unpredictable for some children, resulting in unintended adverse consequences and undermining the placement’s stability. In this context, it is not uncommon for children and parents to have contact through social media or other digital platforms, also known as ‘virtual visitation’. To ensure that restrictions on contact will provide the child with the necessary protection, knowing the child’s navigation and access to digital platforms may provide an understanding of potential contact forms and the need for protection. Based on an online questionnaire addressed to Child Welfare Services in Norway, this study reports on 196 child welfare workers’ views as to what extent children’s navigation on digital platforms is included as part of the professional assessment of the regulation of visitation rights between a child and his or her parents after a care order is issued. The findings indicate a minimal consideration of the child’s access to digital media and their navigation on social media when assessing the regulation of contact rights. The findings from this study highlight the need for a new understanding of the possible connection between virtual and physical visitations after a care order is issued. Protecting children involves professionals understanding and assessing new communication and socialization patterns in which children participate. It is not merely a question of learning how to use digital platforms; it is also a question of professional development and new ways of working with children in public care when meetings between people increasingly take place digitally.

• Kvakic, Minela; Fineide, Mona Jerndahl & Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2021). Navigering med ustø kurs: Om bruk av digitale og sosiale medier i barnevernet. Tidsskriftet Norges Barnevern. ISSN 0800-1014. 98(3), s. 164–180. doi: 10.18261/ISSN1891-1838-2021-03-02. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Gerdts-Andresen, Tina & Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2021). How the Child’s Views is Weighted in Care Order Proceedings. Children and Youth Services Review. ISSN 0190-7409. 129. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.106179. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Björktomta, Siv Britt & Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2020). Social Work, Children and the Digital Knowledge Landscape: New Possibilities and Challenges. I Svalastog, Anna Lydia; Gajović, Srećko & Webster, Andrew (Red.), Navigating Digital Health Landscapes: A Multidisciplinary Analysis. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9789811582059. s. 223–244. doi: 10.1007/978-981-15-8206-6_11. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Gerdts-Andresen, Tina & Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2020). Barnets rett til å bli hørt. En analyse av hvordan barnets uttalelser blir vektet av fylkesnemnda når det skal fattes vedtak om omsorgsovertakelse. Tidsskriftet Norges Barnevern. ISSN 0800-1014. doi: 10.18261/ISSN.1891-1838-2020-04-03. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Björktomta, Siv-Britt & Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2018). Child welfare services and social media - Childhood, being and becoming in a digital society. Croatian Medical Journal. ISSN 0353-9504. 59(2), s. 90–92. doi: 10.3325/cmj.2018.59.90. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Hansen, Heidi Aarum; Björktomta, Siv-Britt & Svalastog, Anna Lydia (2017). Digital society generates new challenges on child welfare services. Croatian Medical Journal. ISSN 0353-9504. 58(1), s. 80–83. doi: 10.3325/cmj.2017.58.80. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2013). Sammen - Om å skape respektfulle møter i det barnevernsfagligearbeidet. I Skærbæk, Eva & Lillemoen, Lillian (Red.), Verdi og verdighet: etikk i praksis. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202401474. s. 73–87. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2009). Å ta barnets perspektiv - en studie om hva sosalarbeidere gjør for å ivareta barnet i situasjonen. Tidsskriftet Norges Barnevern. ISSN 0800-1014. 86(4), s. 246–259. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv

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• Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2015). Barnevernets stemmer: En diskurs og profesjonsteoretisk orientert analyse av fenomenet barnevernfaglig kompetanse. Gøteborgs universitet. ISBN 9789186796969. 293 s. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv

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• Gerdts-Andresen, Tina & Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2026). Parents’ everyday life after child removal: Implications for child welfare practice. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Gerdts-Andresen, Tina & Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2025). Involuntary Collaboration and Parental Resistance: Child Welfare Workers’ Perspectives on ‘High-Conflict’ Cases. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Hansen, Heidi Aarum; Andersen, Marie Valen-Sendstad & Gerdts-Andresen, Tina (2024). The child’s right to family life when living in public care: How to facilitate contact that preserves, strengthens, and develops family ties. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Gerdts-Andresen, Tina & Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2024). From frozen words to dialogue. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Gerdts-Andresen, Tina & Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2024). How the child welfare tribunal practices a child's right to participate in care order proceedings. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Gerdts-Andresen, Tina & Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2023). How Children's Navigation on Digital Platforms challenges Child welfare Assessments. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Hansen, Heidi Aarum; Andersen, Marie Valen-Stenstad & Gerdts-Andresen, Tina (2023). Hvordan bidra til å styrke og utvikle bånd mellom barn og foreldre, når barn er i offentlig omsorg. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Gerdts-Andresen, Tina & Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2023). How children’s navigation on digital platforms challenges child welfare assessments. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Kvakic, Minela; Hansen, Heidi Aarum & Fineide, Mona Jerndahl (2022). Digitalisation in the Child Welfare Services: Meeting frontline workers need for autonomy and the State`s need for control. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Digitization of the public sector in Norway has been on the agenda for many years, but few state-initiated solutions have been introduced in child welfare services compared to other parts of public sector (Breit, 2019; Hansen, Lundberg & Syltevik, 2018). Simultaneously, the expectations of both service users and frontline professionals increase in line with increased use of digital media in society (López Peláez, Pérez García & Aguilar-Tablada Massó, 2018). A recent study demonstrated that frontline professionals in child welfare services were not quietly waiting for state policies to be realized. Instead, they developed private practices (Kvakic, Fineide & Hansen, 2021), see also Cooner, Beddoe, Ferguson and Joy (2020), Byrne, Kirwan and Mc Guckin (2019) and Breyette and Hill (2015). These findings brought us to the question of Which challenges in the child welfare services is digitalisation the answer to? A Digital Government Review of Norway named “Boosting the Digital Transformation of the Public Sector” reported a need for a dedicated and integrated digital government strategy and a clearer and more structured governance framework for digital government, strengthening leadership and defining clearer roles (OECD, 2017). Digitalisation is on the Norwegian state`s agenda, and the child welfare service is no exception. Digitalising child welfare services is said to both improve efficiency, the quality of services and safeguard more equal service provision across child welfare services and municipalities (KS, 2018). But if digitalising the child welfare service is the answer, what is the problem? To answer this question, we study public policy document, and use a political sociological approach and public policy instrumentation as theoretical framework. Public policy instrumentation implies a set of problems posed by the choice and use of instruments that allow government policy to be made material and operational; “bearers of values, fuelled by one interpretation of the social and by precise notions of the mode of the regulation envisaged” (Lascoumes & Le Gales, 2007, p. 4).

• Gerdts-Andresen, Tina & Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2021). The Child’s Right to Express its View: An Analysis of how the Child’s Views are weighted in care orders. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Kvakic, Minela; Fineide, Mona Jerndahl & Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2021). Navigating with unstedy course: -Norwegian Child Welfare Workers Use of Digital and Social Media. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Gerdts-Andresen, Tina & Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2021). The Child's Right to be heard before Regulation of Contact Rights, when placed in Public care. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2019). Fra melding til tiltak. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2018). Social Services in the Knowledge Landscapes. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2018). Child Welfare practices up Close: exploring the Educational Context. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2018). How digital society Challenges child welfare practices - From social workers perspective. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Hansen, Heidi Aarum & Björktomta, Siv Britt (2017). Is social media a way for professionals to communicate with children? Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Hansen, Heidi Aarum & Björktomta, Siv Britt (2017). Challenges for child welfare services in the digital society. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2016). Maktkamp om å vite hva barn trenger. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2014). Etiske implikasjoner i barnevernet: Forholdet mellom fag, forvaltning og politikk. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Hansen, Heidi Aarum (2004). Dette fikk vi til! Hva vektlegger sosialarbeidere i arbeide med barnet og foreldrene i saker hvor de selv mener de lykkes? Om oppfølging av forebyggende hjelpetiltak i barneverntjenesten. Hovedfagsoppgave i sosialt arbeid ved Høgskolen i Oslo. Heidi Aarum Hansen. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv

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