Nordic research on interventions to protect and support children exposed to violence in their family

The aim of the network is to create a common arena for researchers in the Nordic countries currently concerned with children exposed to – “witnessing” - violence in their families. Research on child protection interventions and evaluation of helping measures are focal points for the network activities. A key part of the activities is to enable exchange between groups of researchers currently engaged in evaluation research, in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and to support the initiation of similar projects in the other Nordic countries as well. Another key part is to gather representatives for two projects in Norway on children exposed to violence and child protection, and researchers in other Nordic countries who have experience and expertise in this field, in order to support the development of similar projects in the other countries, including post-doc projects. The network will run from the autumn 2008 to the autumn 2011. It has just over 45 members from all of the five Nordic countries. In addition to annual network conferences, the network activities consists work-shops on evaluation research and child protection respectively, a PhD-student seminar series, and a newsletter.

The network is co-ordinated by associate professor Maria Eriksson and it is funded by NordForsk and the Swedish Council for Social Research/FAS.