Barnet som aktør og kunnskapsbærer - en utfordring for barnevernets profesjonelle ekspertise

Author's version of an article published in the journal: Norges Barnevern. Also available from the publisher at: http://www.idunn.no/ts/tnb/2010/03/art04During recent years, it has become more and more common to consider children as competent participants in their own lives, also in the child protective services. This agrees with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and more recent research on children and childhood. That is to say that the child is seen as the expert on his own life, at the same time as the child protective services with their professional expertise have competence to say what is best for children. What does this imply and how can we understand the relation between the child as active participant and knowledge holders, seen in relation to the child protective services’ professional expertise? It is claimed that the professional expertise should be based on the best possible available scientific grounds, together with the professional worker’s experiences, critical and ethical considerations, the user’s preferences and with contextual considerations. Finally, the tension between the child as expert and the child protective services professional expertise is discussed