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HELSEVEL-Gode og effektive helse-, omsorgs- og velferdstjenester

Effects of Child Welfare Services

Alternative title: Virkninger av barnevern

Awarded: NOK 15.0 mill.

Welfare state policies include Child Welfare Services (CWS) to improve living conditions and long run prospects of children and adolescents at risk. In Norway, the prime instruments are various types of assistance within the family and placements outside the family. The project builds on national administrative data based on personal identifiers that enable us to construct longitudinal data of individuals of up to 30 years, containing a wide range of socioeconomic characteristics on social background, including income, wealth, family and health, and how it relates to CWS status. Detailed information of children´s parent and living conditions are included as well. The project is quantitative and will combine data from a number of administrative registries and employ modern quantitative methods for credible effect evaluation with observational data not previously used in the CWS field in Norway. The effects of CWS will be identified within a treatment effect framework of counterfactual outcomes. Receivers and non-receivers of CWS are different in terms of individual resources and potential outcomes. We aim at identifying causal effects of policy alternatives using state of the art techniques for large data sets. To provide reliable evidence of alternative policies, we combine complementary competencies from Frisch Centre of Economic Research, international cooperation, as well as an advisory group consisting of individuals with personal experience from the CWS. To begin with, the project primarily consisted of extensive, foundational data work. The project investigates variation in practices of the Norwegian Child Welfare Services (CWS) at the local and regional level, and estimates causal effects of interventions on school, health, crime and labor market outcomes of children and youth. In addition, the project contains a study about how youths in child welfare institutions influence each other, the importance of leaders of child welfare offices, and the selection of youths into public vs. private institutions.

Welfare state policies include Child Welfare Services (CWS) to improve living conditions and long run prospects of children and adolescents at risk. In Norway, the prime instruments are various types of assistance within the family and placements outside the family. Our project will (i) investigate variation in practices of the Norwegian Child Welfare Services (CWS) at the local and regional level (ii) estimate causal effects of various CWS interventions for children involved on a wide spectre of individual outcomes in the short- and long run. Outcomes include academic performance, educational attainment, health, crime, labor market outcomes and welfare program participation. The project builds on national administrative data based on personal identifiers that enable us to construct longitudinal data of individuals of up to 30 years, containing a wide range of socioeconomic characteristics of social background, including income, wealth, family and health, and how it relates to CWS status. Detailed information of children´s parent and living conditions are included as well. The project is quantitative and will combine data from a number of administrative registries and employ modern quantitative methods for credible effect evaluation with observational data not previously used in the CWS field in Norway. The effects of CWS will be identified within a treatment effect framework of counterfactual outcomes. Receivers and non-receivers of CWS are different in terms of individual resources and potential outcomes. We aim at identifying causal effects of policy alternatives using state of the art techniques for large data sets. To provide reliable evidence of alternative policies, we combine complementary competencies from Frisch Centre of Economic Research, NOVA, international cooperation, as well as an advisory group consisting of individuals with personal experience from the CWS.

Publications from Cristin

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Funding scheme:

HELSEVEL-Gode og effektive helse-, omsorgs- og velferdstjenester