Ingunn T Ellingsen
Biographic Data
| ID | 4415656 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ingunn T Ellingsen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ingunn T |
| FAMILY NAME | Ellingsen |
| SIGNATURE | ELLINGSEN I T |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Stavanger |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7303-7777 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 64 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Caregivers' experiences with kinship care and Child Welfare Services
Kinship care placements are significant for meeting the need for alternative care in child welfare systems worldwide. This qualitative evidence synthesis develops a comprehensive understanding of the role of the Child Welfare Service (CWS) in kinship foster care from the perspectives of kinship caregivers. We reviewed 14 qualitative empirical studies that explore caregivers' perspectives on contact with- and support from the CWS. Our synthesis in…
Balancing equality and equity in decision-making practice
We will always think, ‘is this the right decision?’ Norwegian child welfare workers navigating the uncertain project of reunification
You've got to love her’—Perceptions of birth mothers among children in long‐term foster care
Research shows differences in gendered caring expectations between mothers and fathers across countries and how they are affected by the development of different family forms and cultural practices. In this study, we explore the meaning that 14 children and youths in long‐term non‐kinship foster care in Spain ascribe to their birth mothers. We found three main perspectives among the participants. Within these perspectives, age, gender and socio‐c…
Gender, Parenting and Practices in Child Welfare Social Work? A Comparative Study from England, Ireland, Norway and Sweden
This article explores ways in which gender equality, family policy and child welfare social work intersect in four countries: England, Ireland, Norway and Sweden. Over time, conditions for gender equality in parenting have improved, partly due to family policy developments removing structural barriers. These changes, however, vary between countries; Sweden and Norway are considered more progressive as compared with the UK and Ireland. Here, we dr…
When standardization becomes the lens of professional practice in child welfare services
This paper examines the relationship between professional work and standardization. There has been an increase in the use of standardized programmes in child welfare services (CWS) in Western society. Some researchers have criticized standardized programmes suggesting that they undermine professionals expertise and threaten their position, whereas others argue that such programmes strengthen professional practice. In this paper, we examine how st…
Social work bachelor students’ knowledge awareness during field practice
Social work has increasingly become a research-based discipline, while at the same time acknowledging the importance of knowledge gained through practical experience and user knowledge. Awareness of various forms of knowledge becomes particularly relevant to practice as it constitutes a framework for understanding and addressing social problems in real-life situations. This article presents findings from a Q methodological study exploring social …
Child protection social workers' constructions of children and childhood
Social workers' constructions of children and childhood are central to how professionals interact with children and support their needs. The aim of this integrative review was to provide a comprehensive portrayal of child protection social workers' constructions of children and childhood. We analysed and synthesized 35 empirical studies with samples of social workers in the child protection domain where issues regarding the child or the child's s…
The child, the parents, the family and the state
EnglishThere is a lack of research comparing Latin American and European countries alongside how family policy relates to social work practices. This study fills in the research gap, and compares Chilean and Norwegian social workers’ conceptions of children’s position in the family, in family work in a complex family case, and how their understandings impact on CWS practices when working with families with complex needs in each context. A total o…
Children and childhood in Chile
EnglishThis study explores understandings of children and childhood among 21 social workers from five child protection services in Chile. To help grasp multiple ideas about children and childhood, we use Q methodology and the ‘child visibility’ concept. The object is to explore dissimilar and/or similar views on child visibility among social workers and the characteristics of these viewpoints. The results reveal three distinct views on child visi…
Investigating Welfare Regime Typologies
The article reviews the relevance and methodological utility of welfare regime typologies for the study of professional sense-making in social work with families. Focus groups were carried out with social workers in European and Latin American countries representing four different policy regimes. A case vignette was used to elicit social workers’ descriptions of how welfare policy may influence how they understand their work task and the notion o…
Conceptualisations of Family and Social Work Family Practice in Chile, Mexico and Norway
Social workers all around the world work with families and family complexity in their everyday practice. In this article, we present findings from a cross-national study exploring how social workers in child welfare conceptualise ‘family’, and how they relate to ‘family’ in their practice. Data presented is taken from focus groups with twenty-eight social workers from Chile, Mexico and Norway. The findings reveal that in Chilean, Mexican, and Nor…
What about the fathers? The presence and absence of the father in social work practice in England, Ireland, Norway, and Sweden—A comparative study
Within Northern Europe, gendered roles and responsibilities within the family have been challenged through an emergence of different family forms, increasing cultural diversity, and progressive developments in welfare policies. To varying degrees, welfare policies in different countries support a dual‐earner model and encourage men to be more active as fathers by reinforcing statutory rights and responsibilities. In child welfare practice, there …
The Norwegian Ombudsman for Children on child participation
The adoption in 1989 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has seen a quantum leap in the recognition- and expansion of initiatives to uphold children’s participation rights. The Ombudsman for Children plays an important role in promoting children’s rights, thus stressing the importance of authorities taking children’s opinions and experiences into consideration when making decisions which affect them. This article examines how the s…
When the Norwegian child-welfare services get involved
There is limited research exploring parents' views and understanding of referrals to the child-welfare services (CWS). This study explores parents' understanding of the circumstances leading to a child-welfare referral, and their understanding of the reporter's objectives in making the referral. Qualitative content analysis and frequency analysis was performed on open-ended survey responses from a sample of 683 Norwegian parents in contact with t…
Parents' perceptions of contact with the N orwegian C hild W elfare S ervices
Listening to the opinions of service users is important in research. This study explored how parents cognitively and emotionally perceive contact with the N orwegian C hild W elfare S ervices ( CWS ). It also compared the reports of parents recently referred to the CWS with reports of more experienced users. A content analysis was conducted on open‐ended survey responses from parents ( n = 697). This study fills a gap in the literature on how par…
Congruence and incongruence in the perception of ‘family’ among foster parents, birth parents and their adolescent (foster) children
Over recent decades, listening to children's voices and viewing children as competent actors has gathered momentum in research as well as in practice. Acknowledging children's perspectives requires sensitive listeners who are willing, deliberately and as realistically as possible, to reconstruct children's ways of seeing. In our study, based in Norway, we investigated the views of 22 adolescents in long‐term foster care and 15 of their birth pare…
Q methodology in social work research
This article examines Q methodology as an empirical method for use in social work research. Q methodology applies statistical analysis to the qualitative study of human subjectivity such as attitudes, beliefs, feelings and opinions. Q methodology is effective for obtaining data from small samples, and it offers respondents a concise and valid way of expressing their viewpoints with minimal researcher interference. The article provides an overview…
What about the fathers? The presence and absence of the father in social work practice in England, Ireland, Norway, and Sweden—A comparative study
Within Northern Europe, gendered roles and responsibilities within the family have been challenged through an emergence of different family forms, increasing cultural diversity, and progressive developments in welfare policies. To varying degrees, welfare policies in different countries support a dual‐earner model and encourage men to be more active as fathers by reinforcing statutory rights and responsibilities. In child welfare practice, there …
Congruence and incongruence in the perception of ‘family’ among foster parents, birth parents and their adolescent (foster) children
Over recent decades, listening to children's voices and viewing children as competent actors has gathered momentum in research as well as in practice. Acknowledging children's perspectives requires sensitive listeners who are willing, deliberately and as realistically as possible, to reconstruct children's ways of seeing. In our study, based in Norway, we investigated the views of 22 adolescents in long‐term foster care and 15 of their birth pare…
Q methodology in social work research
This article examines Q methodology as an empirical method for use in social work research. Q methodology applies statistical analysis to the qualitative study of human subjectivity such as attitudes, beliefs, feelings and opinions. Q methodology is effective for obtaining data from small samples, and it offers respondents a concise and valid way of expressing their viewpoints with minimal researcher interference. The article provides an overview…
Parents' perceptions of contact with the N orwegian C hild W elfare S ervices
Listening to the opinions of service users is important in research. This study explored how parents cognitively and emotionally perceive contact with the N orwegian C hild W elfare S ervices ( CWS ). It also compared the reports of parents recently referred to the CWS with reports of more experienced users. A content analysis was conducted on open‐ended survey responses from parents ( n = 697). This study fills a gap in the literature on how par…
When standardization becomes the lens of professional practice in child welfare services
This paper examines the relationship between professional work and standardization. There has been an increase in the use of standardized programmes in child welfare services (CWS) in Western society. Some researchers have criticized standardized programmes suggesting that they undermine professionals expertise and threaten their position, whereas others argue that such programmes strengthen professional practice. In this paper, we examine how st…
Child protection social workers' constructions of children and childhood
Social workers' constructions of children and childhood are central to how professionals interact with children and support their needs. The aim of this integrative review was to provide a comprehensive portrayal of child protection social workers' constructions of children and childhood. We analysed and synthesized 35 empirical studies with samples of social workers in the child protection domain where issues regarding the child or the child's s…
The child, the parents, the family and the state
EnglishThere is a lack of research comparing Latin American and European countries alongside how family policy relates to social work practices. This study fills in the research gap, and compares Chilean and Norwegian social workers’ conceptions of children’s position in the family, in family work in a complex family case, and how their understandings impact on CWS practices when working with families with complex needs in each context. A total o…
Investigating Welfare Regime Typologies
The article reviews the relevance and methodological utility of welfare regime typologies for the study of professional sense-making in social work with families. Focus groups were carried out with social workers in European and Latin American countries representing four different policy regimes. A case vignette was used to elicit social workers’ descriptions of how welfare policy may influence how they understand their work task and the notion o…
Conceptualisations of Family and Social Work Family Practice in Chile, Mexico and Norway
Social workers all around the world work with families and family complexity in their everyday practice. In this article, we present findings from a cross-national study exploring how social workers in child welfare conceptualise ‘family’, and how they relate to ‘family’ in their practice. Data presented is taken from focus groups with twenty-eight social workers from Chile, Mexico and Norway. The findings reveal that in Chilean, Mexican, and Nor…
Gender, Parenting and Practices in Child Welfare Social Work? A Comparative Study from England, Ireland, Norway and Sweden
This article explores ways in which gender equality, family policy and child welfare social work intersect in four countries: England, Ireland, Norway and Sweden. Over time, conditions for gender equality in parenting have improved, partly due to family policy developments removing structural barriers. These changes, however, vary between countries; Sweden and Norway are considered more progressive as compared with the UK and Ireland. Here, we dr…
The Norwegian Ombudsman for Children on child participation
The adoption in 1989 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has seen a quantum leap in the recognition- and expansion of initiatives to uphold children’s participation rights. The Ombudsman for Children plays an important role in promoting children’s rights, thus stressing the importance of authorities taking children’s opinions and experiences into consideration when making decisions which affect them. This article examines how the s…
When the Norwegian child-welfare services get involved
There is limited research exploring parents' views and understanding of referrals to the child-welfare services (CWS). This study explores parents' understanding of the circumstances leading to a child-welfare referral, and their understanding of the reporter's objectives in making the referral. Qualitative content analysis and frequency analysis was performed on open-ended survey responses from a sample of 683 Norwegian parents in contact with t…
Q methodology in social work research
This article examines Q methodology as an empirical method for use in social work research. Q methodology applies statistical analysis to the qualitative study of human subjectivity such as attitudes, beliefs, feelings and opinions. Q methodology is effective for obtaining data from small samples, and it offers respondents a concise and valid way of expressing their viewpoints with minimal researcher interference. The article provides an overview…
Congruence and incongruence in the perception of ‘family’ among foster parents, birth parents and their adolescent (foster) children
Over recent decades, listening to children's voices and viewing children as competent actors has gathered momentum in research as well as in practice. Acknowledging children's perspectives requires sensitive listeners who are willing, deliberately and as realistically as possible, to reconstruct children's ways of seeing. In our study, based in Norway, we investigated the views of 22 adolescents in long‐term foster care and 15 of their birth pare…
Parents' perceptions of contact with the N orwegian C hild W elfare S ervices
Listening to the opinions of service users is important in research. This study explored how parents cognitively and emotionally perceive contact with the N orwegian C hild W elfare S ervices ( CWS ). It also compared the reports of parents recently referred to the CWS with reports of more experienced users. A content analysis was conducted on open‐ended survey responses from parents ( n = 697). This study fills a gap in the literature on how par…
When the Norwegian child-welfare services get involved
There is limited research exploring parents' views and understanding of referrals to the child-welfare services (CWS). This study explores parents' understanding of the circumstances leading to a child-welfare referral, and their understanding of the reporter's objectives in making the referral. Qualitative content analysis and frequency analysis was performed on open-ended survey responses from a sample of 683 Norwegian parents in contact with t…
The Norwegian Ombudsman for Children on child participation
The adoption in 1989 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has seen a quantum leap in the recognition- and expansion of initiatives to uphold children’s participation rights. The Ombudsman for Children plays an important role in promoting children’s rights, thus stressing the importance of authorities taking children’s opinions and experiences into consideration when making decisions which affect them. This article examines how the s…
Investigating Welfare Regime Typologies
The article reviews the relevance and methodological utility of welfare regime typologies for the study of professional sense-making in social work with families. Focus groups were carried out with social workers in European and Latin American countries representing four different policy regimes. A case vignette was used to elicit social workers’ descriptions of how welfare policy may influence how they understand their work task and the notion o…
Conceptualisations of Family and Social Work Family Practice in Chile, Mexico and Norway
Social workers all around the world work with families and family complexity in their everyday practice. In this article, we present findings from a cross-national study exploring how social workers in child welfare conceptualise ‘family’, and how they relate to ‘family’ in their practice. Data presented is taken from focus groups with twenty-eight social workers from Chile, Mexico and Norway. The findings reveal that in Chilean, Mexican, and Nor…
What about the fathers? The presence and absence of the father in social work practice in England, Ireland, Norway, and Sweden—A comparative study
Within Northern Europe, gendered roles and responsibilities within the family have been challenged through an emergence of different family forms, increasing cultural diversity, and progressive developments in welfare policies. To varying degrees, welfare policies in different countries support a dual‐earner model and encourage men to be more active as fathers by reinforcing statutory rights and responsibilities. In child welfare practice, there …
Child protection social workers' constructions of children and childhood
Social workers' constructions of children and childhood are central to how professionals interact with children and support their needs. The aim of this integrative review was to provide a comprehensive portrayal of child protection social workers' constructions of children and childhood. We analysed and synthesized 35 empirical studies with samples of social workers in the child protection domain where issues regarding the child or the child's s…
The child, the parents, the family and the state
EnglishThere is a lack of research comparing Latin American and European countries alongside how family policy relates to social work practices. This study fills in the research gap, and compares Chilean and Norwegian social workers’ conceptions of children’s position in the family, in family work in a complex family case, and how their understandings impact on CWS practices when working with families with complex needs in each context. A total o…
Children and childhood in Chile
EnglishThis study explores understandings of children and childhood among 21 social workers from five child protection services in Chile. To help grasp multiple ideas about children and childhood, we use Q methodology and the ‘child visibility’ concept. The object is to explore dissimilar and/or similar views on child visibility among social workers and the characteristics of these viewpoints. The results reveal three distinct views on child visi…
When standardization becomes the lens of professional practice in child welfare services
This paper examines the relationship between professional work and standardization. There has been an increase in the use of standardized programmes in child welfare services (CWS) in Western society. Some researchers have criticized standardized programmes suggesting that they undermine professionals expertise and threaten their position, whereas others argue that such programmes strengthen professional practice. In this paper, we examine how st…
Social work bachelor students’ knowledge awareness during field practice
Social work has increasingly become a research-based discipline, while at the same time acknowledging the importance of knowledge gained through practical experience and user knowledge. Awareness of various forms of knowledge becomes particularly relevant to practice as it constitutes a framework for understanding and addressing social problems in real-life situations. This article presents findings from a Q methodological study exploring social …
Gender, Parenting and Practices in Child Welfare Social Work? A Comparative Study from England, Ireland, Norway and Sweden
This article explores ways in which gender equality, family policy and child welfare social work intersect in four countries: England, Ireland, Norway and Sweden. Over time, conditions for gender equality in parenting have improved, partly due to family policy developments removing structural barriers. These changes, however, vary between countries; Sweden and Norway are considered more progressive as compared with the UK and Ireland. Here, we dr…
You've got to love her’—Perceptions of birth mothers among children in long‐term foster care
Research shows differences in gendered caring expectations between mothers and fathers across countries and how they are affected by the development of different family forms and cultural practices. In this study, we explore the meaning that 14 children and youths in long‐term non‐kinship foster care in Spain ascribe to their birth mothers. We found three main perspectives among the participants. Within these perspectives, age, gender and socio‐c…
Caregivers' experiences with kinship care and Child Welfare Services
Kinship care placements are significant for meeting the need for alternative care in child welfare systems worldwide. This qualitative evidence synthesis develops a comprehensive understanding of the role of the Child Welfare Service (CWS) in kinship foster care from the perspectives of kinship caregivers. We reviewed 14 qualitative empirical studies that explore caregivers' perspectives on contact with- and support from the CWS. Our synthesis in…
Balancing equality and equity in decision-making practice
We will always think, ‘is this the right decision?’ Norwegian child welfare workers navigating the uncertain project of reunification
Psychology (14 works) · Political science (13 works) · Social Work Education and Practice (11 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Social Psychology (9 works) · Social Work (9 works) · Welfare (9 works) · Social Psychology (8 works) · Law (7 works) · Norwegian (7 works)