August 25th we are launching our new ERC funded project “Discretion and the Child’s Best Interest in Child Protection”.

The event will take place at the house of Literature in Bergen and is hosted by the Centre on Law and Social Transformation as a part of their annual Bergen Exchanges. The launch of the project will be the last event to be held in the series of seminars, presentations, debates and launches. For more information about the Bergen Exchanges please click here. More information about the launch will be given in the weeks to come.

For the final event of the Bergen Exchanges, professor in political science Marit Skivenes will present the ambitious goals for a new research agenda on child protection research. A key question is how to secure the quality and legitimacy of the intrusive and extremely difficult interventions that child protection staff and judges have to make.

Prof. Skivenes will be joined by professor in law Karl Harald Søvig, which will elaborate on the situation with all the child protection cases that the European Court of Human Rights has communicated to the Norwegian state, From Ireland, associate professor in social work.

Dr. Kenneth Burns (University College Cork, Ireland) will present the Irish road towards banning corporal punishment – “Corporal Punishment in Ireland in 5 Artefacts”.

Professor in sociology, Katrin Kriz, from Austria (Emmanuel College, Boston, US), will present findings from five population’s attitudes (Austria, Estonia, Ireland, Norway and Spain) on corporal punishment of children.

Professor in social work, Tarja Pösö from Finland (University of Tampere) will thereafter lead a panel debate comprised of international experts on the issue of thresholds for child protection interventions and the legitimate role of state intervention into families. Questions and comments from the audience are very much welcome.

Here is a link to the facebook event