Samhandling mellom barnevern og psykisk helsevern for barn og unge – utfordringer og muligheter

Abstract

In 2015, a new guidance was issued that sought to clarify the responsibilities and obligations for cooperation between child welfare and mental healthcare services in Norway. This study investigated if the guidance had any impact on the collaboration between services. An electronic survey was administered to employees in the child welfare services and in the child and adolescent mental health services. The response rate was 50.6% (N = 267). The results show that about one-third of the respondents had never heard about the new guidance. Most of the participants who had heard about the guidance considered it useful, in particular the clarification of duties and responsibilities. Sometimes, however, issues that cannot be solved by regulatory guidance alone hinder cooperation. Chief among these issues are professional disagreements about children’s needs and resource restrictions. Such matters cannot be solved by merely a new guideline.