Willy tore morch-the_biological_principle

1. U T VA L G O M D E T B I O L O G I S K E P R I N S I P P
I BARNEVERNET
Utvalg opprettet ved kgl.res. 18. februar 2011
Better protection of children’s development
The expert committee’s report about the biological principle in child
protection services
NOU 2012:5
Professor Willy-Tore Mørch
Member of the expert committee

2. Basic knowledge about neurological,
psychological and social problems
relevant for the expert committee’s
conclusions
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3. CHILD BRAIN PROTECION
Det biologiske prinsipp i barnevernet

4. Neuro biology
Small children living with longlasting stress and
anxiety develop neurobiological and psychological
damages
• The brain is plastic and «user dependent»
• The brain is not fully developed until the age of 20
• The phylogenic oldest structures (The limbic systems)
develop first and are therefore in highest risk of mal-
development from experience based trauma (neglect
and abuse)
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5. The basic structures and examples of
consequences of traumatization
Amygdala: «Remember» dangerous situations: Activates
anxiety in similar but non-dangerous situations
Hippocampus: Differenciate between danger and non-
danger and transfer to explicitt recall: High non-
targeted anxiety and reduced ability to separate
betweeen danger and non danger
Orbito frontal cortex: Important in attachment and cueing
of social signals:Reduced ability for relation building
and behavioral flexibility (learning)
Medial prefonal cortex: Self–observation, self regulation
and emotional signals from the limbic system:
Impusivity and lack of reflections. Emotional
unstability
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6. Social impairement, low SES
Children living in relative poverty can develop language delay
and, cognitive and emotional impairment
(Hart & Risley 1995). Children of social security recipients (Low
SES) developed only ¼th of the vocabulary of children in high SES
families
Parents with high SES talked twice as much and used richer
language than parents with low SES
Parents with high SES interacted with their child four times more
than parents with low SES
Children in high SES families received seven times as much
positive attention and only one third of criticisms than children in low
SES families
These parenting skills explained 61% of the variation in language
growth and 59% of the variation in the childrens general intellectual
development
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7. Generation transmission
 It is proven generation transmission of child
protection services and social security recipients
in Norway
 Child care is moderately stable across generations
 Weak and harmfull child care stransmitts more over
generations than high quality care
 Four of five families in child protection services are low SES
families
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8. Attachment
Unsafe attachment (elusive and ambivalent) between
children and caregivers can result in developmentally
retardant care.
Desorganized attachment can develop serious mental
health problems in the children
 Unsafe, elusive attachment: Parents respond with anger and
anxiety to the child’s attachment behavior. The child avoid the
parents responses by tuning down attachment behaviors. They
display silent, non-attentive behaviors and independency
 Unsafe, ambivalent attachment: Parents are passive and
callous. The child escalate the attachment behavior and display
temper tantrums, anger and defiance
 Unsafe, desintegrated attachment: Parents are violent and
ridiculing the child. The child shows fear for the caregiver and
displays stereotype behavior, anxiety and confusion. The child
is in risk for developing serious mental health problems.
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9. The biological principle
 It is of intrinsic value for a child to live with his/her
biological parent(s) and thereby it reflects «the child’s
best»
The biological prinsiple is not explicitly mentioned in the
child protection law, but it is clearly expressed in the law
preparatory documents and proves that the principle
underlies the law.
The biological principle is leading for practice in the child
protection services
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10. The difficult decicions in child protection
Thresholds for care takeover to foster
homes or institution
Reversal of care takeover decisions
Measures for improvements (e.g.
parenting guidance)
Visitation
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11. A new leading principle
 The developmentally supportive attachment principle
I.e. the caregivers must interact to the child with a quality
that support the childs development
It is the child’s best to live in developmental supportive
conditions than with their biological parents
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12. Primary aim for the propositions from the
expert committee:
• To reduce the time children live in malicious
care
by:
 Impose on parents to receive evidence based parent training programs
when parents have potential to improve their parenting skills
 Reduce the time before moving a child to a developmental supportive
care situation (foster home, emergency home) by applying the new
principle as leading principle in the decision process.
 Stabilizing the foster homes by establising a foster home guaranty
(monitoring and supervising the foster homes)
 Decisions about reversal of care taking back to biological parents only
if the care situation is developmental supportive for the child
 Elicit the use of adoption by always assessing the opportunity for
adoption when babies are placed in foster homes and within
one year for children between 0-18 months
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13. To reduce the time children live in
malicious care
By
 Prohibit the right for biological parents to annually appeal for reversal
of care takeover decision by making it mandatory for the social
court, after more than 2 years placement in foster home, to
assess if court decision of moving the child out of the home not
should be repealed if the child is attached to the foster parents.
 Limit the right for biological parents to promote a cause for changes in
visitation if the child is attached to the foster parents
 and after changes in visitation has been treated in the social
court one time, promoting a cause for change in visitation can
only be applied if it can be proved that the parents care
situation has changed to be developmental supportive
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14. Thank you for your attention
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