Comparison of Systems and Outcomes for Safeguarding Children in Australia and Norway: A Decade of Rapid Change

Using aggregated national data, this paper re-examines the outcomes of the Australian and Norwegian protective systems during the past decade and compares it to the trends and issues identified in our earlier 2012 study. We outline the context of increased service demand affecting both countries with rapid expansion and reform of their policies and approaches. A convergence has been occurring regarding their focus upon risk and its relationship with family support. However, in Australia, there was an increasing attempt to provide greater support and reduce its rate of investigation of notifications, but there was increasing rates of children in state care, particularly for Indigenous children. In Norway, there is less appetite for risk and consequently far higher rates of investigation, but their propensity for providing a diverse array of family support has been decreasing yet remains far greater than in Australia. Nonetheless, Norway's rate of children in state care is increasing, but not for children under 5 years, whereas Australia is removing far more infant children and having them in care longer, while Norway has far more adolescents in care, particularly in residential care. Within stretched systems, both countries are needing to develop workforce planning and development strategies.