Services and support for mothers and newborn babies in vulnerable situations: A study of eight European jurisdictions

Katre Luhamaa, Amy McEwan-Strand, Barbara Ruiken, Marit Skivenes and Florian Wingens

Children and Youth Services Review, 2021, vol. 120, issue C

Abstract: European countries have a legal obligation to provide services to vulnerable families, and children must not be removed from their parents’ care unless no other viable measures are available. This paper examines whether and how eight jurisdictions provide necessary support and services to families with newborn babies who are considered to be at risk in the child protection system. The data consist of all judgments (n = 216) concerning care orders for 220 newborns for periods ranging from one to several years. The analysis shows that services are provided in an overall majority of the cases but with distinct differences between jurisdictions. These differences are not due to the type of child protection system. Furthermore, we cannot ascertain whether service provision follows parental problems, or identify similarities due to the special case of newborns. We conclude that there are huge knowledge gaps regarding both service provision and the effects of services.

Keywords: Child protection systems; Support services; Welfare state; Newborns; Care order proceedings (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:120:y:2021:i:c:s0190740920321848

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105762

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