Child Welfare and the Significance of Family

Halvor Nordby is a professor at the Department of Social Work and Guidance at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences (INN) and holds a part-time position at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Oslo. He graduated with a DPhil in Philosophy from the University of Oxford in 2000. His teaching and research interests are communication, ethics and management in various forms of health and social work. At INN, he is affiliated with the PhD programme Health and Welfare, as well as master’s and bachelor’s programmes in social work and child welfare.

Grethe Netland is a philosopher, appointed as an associate professor at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences (INN) where she primarily works with research ethics. In addition, professional ethics and human rights are among Netland’s areas of interest and among the topics that feature in her publications. Her work experience includes a period as Head of Department at the Department of Social Work and Guidance at INN.

Astrid Halsa has a PhD in sociology and is an associate professor at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences (INN), Department of Social Work and Guidance. She works as an educator for master students in social work and child welfare. Her research interests include child protection, family life, childhood studies and children’s and parents’ perspectives in handling different kinds of family troubles, and her publications reflect these interests.

Camilla Bennin is a lawyer and associate professor at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Department of Social Work and Guidance, where she teaches at, and heads the section for the bachelor’s programme in child welfare. She also teaches at the master’s programme in child welfare. Her publications include a book that examines the weight given to the child’s interests in judicial decisions in child care hearings, a book on ethics in child welfare and a book chapter on cooperation and coordination in the child welfare service.

Bjørn Arne Buer is a university college teacher at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Department of Social Work and Guidance, where he teaches at the bachelor’s and master’s programmes in child welfare. He has a background as a child welfare worker and holds a master’s degree in politics. Buer’s publications include a book chapter on neglect and social capital, a book on ethics in child welfare work and a book chapter on cooperation and coordination in the child welfare service.

Halvor Fauske is Professor of Social Work at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Department of Social Work and Guidance, and Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Department of Social Work. He has experience in teaching and research, and has also worked in municipal health and social services. Fauske has been head of the Children and Youth Participation and Competence Development (BUK) Ph.D. programme. His research interests and publications are within child welfare, children, youth and families, professions, professional development and professional knowledge.

Cathrine Grimsgaard is an associate professor at VID Specialized University, Faculty of Social Sciences. She has previously worked at the child welfare education programme at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences (INN). She is a trained social worker. She holds a master’s degree in professional ethics and diaconia from the University of Oslo and a PhD in children and youth’s competence development and participation from INN. In her research she primarily focuses on ethical issues related to children’s participation and interactions between professionals and children.

Anne Sigfrid Grønseth is professor of anthropology at Inland Norway University of Applied Science, where she heads the research unit Migration and Diversity and is affiliated to the Ph.D. programme Health and Welfare, the master’s programme Interprofessional Work with Children, Youth and Families, and the bachelor’s programme Social Work. She has been editor-in- chief of Nordic Journal of Social Research (NSJR) since 2017. Previously, she had a research position at the Norwegian Centre for Minority Health Research at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, and the Regional Centre for Violence and Traumatic stress, Refugee Health, University Hospital Northern Norway. Her research and publications engage concepts of home and belonging, illness and wellbeing, personhood and self, and embodiment and emotions, particularly when related to refugees and migration.

Eirik Christopher Gundersen is Associate Professor of child welfare at the Department of Social Work, Child Welfare and Social Policy, Oslo Metropolitan University. He is a philosopher with a PhD on the ethics of public care from the Centre for the Study of Professions, OsloMet. His teaching and research interests focus on applied ethics and political philosophy.

Bjørg Midtskogen is associate professor at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Department of Social Work and Guidance. In her PhD thesis (2022), she examines to what extent children’s perspectives are taken into account in kindergarten mapping. Her former work experience is mainly from the Office for Children, Youth and Family Affairs (Bufetat), particularly in matters related to children’s and families’ situations, parental guidance, and the Family Group Conference decision model, and as an advisor in the Municipal Educational Counselling Service.

Mari Rysst is professor in social science/social anthropology at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Department of Social Work and Guidance. She is director of two PhD programmes: the programme titled Children and Youth Participation and Competence Development (BUK) and the Health and Welfare programme. She also teaches at MA and PhD levels. Rysst holds a part time position at SIFO/Oslo Metropolitan University. Her professional interests are children, youth, consumption, gender, ethnicity, race and social inclusion/exclusion.

Kerstin Söderström is a clinical child psychologist at Innlandet Hospital Trust, Mental Health Department, and she is associate professor at Inland University of Applied Sciences, Department of Social Work and Guidance. She has published academic articles and book chapters, in addition to a range of publications, presentations, and arts-based disseminations for a wider audience, mainly on the topics of early childhood, parental substance addiction and child development, children as next-to-kin, and the interlinks between mental health and human rights. Her work experience is in public mental health services for children and families, as private practitioner, and as researcher and lecturer.