Municipal Differences in Thresholds for Investigations and Interventions by Child Welfare and Protection Services

ABSTRACT In this study, we used child welfare and protection (CWP) statistics from Statistics Norway for the period 2015–2021 to examine reports, investigations and interventions in CWP services. The purpose was to study differences between municipalities and to what extent these can be attributed to demographic factors. The results showed that there is greater variation in the proportion of closed reports and the proportion of children with interventions from year to year than between municipalities within the same year. Demographic factors explained some municipal differences. However, it is probable that most of the variation reflected in the CWP statistics is due to differences in case characteristics and unmeasured factors such as practitioner decision‐making practices and local practice cultures.