The number of care placements under Section 5-1 of the Child Welfare Act has more than halved from 2013 to 2022. This project will attempt to provide a comprehensive picture of possible reasons for the decline.  

The significant decrease in the number of care transfers is shown for all age groups, but has been greatest among the youngest and also significant among children under 18 who have immigrated to Norway, including as unaccompanied minors, or were born in Norway with two foreign parents. 

The project has three parts: A descriptive part that will depict the statistical development in the number of care placements from 2013–2022, together with other relevant statistics in the area of ​​child welfare, and that sees the development in the context of other societal developments. 2) An exploratory part that will provide a comprehensive picture of possible reasons for the decline in care placements, and that will discuss the consequences of the various reasons in light of the goal that children should receive the help they need. 3). Investigation of causal relationships. In part 3, the contractor will take as a starting point a selection of possible reasons from part 2, and investigate the connections between the reasons and the decline in the number of care placements.