- hege.helland@uib.no
- Phone number
- +47 55588451
- Visitor address
-
Christies gate 17
5007 Bergen - Postal address
-
P.O. Box 7802NO-5020 BergenNorway
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Short info
I research public policy, state legitimacy and the foundations and services of the welfare state. I am interested in citizens-state interactions, public decision-making, discretion and accountability in public services and the courts, and the normative basis for paternalistic policies and practice.
Research
Researcher at the Centre for Research on Discretion and Paternalism.
My research interests include children's rights, child protection, welfare policies and services, discretionary decision-making and policy implementation, courts and legislation, critical citizen, human rights, and trust in public institutions.
I conduct research both nationally and comparatively, utilising data from various sources and levels, including decision-makers, experts in courts and public administration, citizens, and service users, as well as court decisions and public documents. The research methods I use mainly consist of text analysis, interviews, surveys, survey vignettes and survey experiments.
Publications
Conference lecture
- Hege Stein Helland (2025). Adoption and Welfare State Governance. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland; Marit Skivenes (2023). Family Life and Child Protection in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland (2023). Child Protection and Human Rights. (external link)
- Marit Skivenes; Andrea Castagnola; Mathea Loen et al. (2025). Childrens Rights: Trust, Justice & the Future of Welfare Systems. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland; Mathea Loen (2025). Juridification in the Welfare Sector. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland (2019). In the Best Interest of the Child – An Analysis of Judgments on Involuntary Adoption in the Norwegian Judicial System. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland (2022). Discretionary Assessments of Contact in Decisions on Adoption. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland (2021). Deciding between continued foster care and adoption - When adoption is not considered to be in the best interest of the child. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland (2023). The European Court of Human Rights – quo vadis children’s rights?. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland (2025). Fair trial for children in the European Court of Human Rights? An analysis of child protection judgements on Article 8 from 1959-2022. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland; Marit Skivenes; Jill Duerr Berrick et al. (2025). Children’s Rights as Human Rights: Examining the Links between Children and International Human Rights in a Global Context. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland (2025). Child Protection and the European Court of Human Rights. (external link)
- Hege Beate Stein Helland; Marit Skivenes; Øyvind Samnøy Tefre (2018). In the Best Interest of the Child – An Analysis of Judgments on Involuntary Adoption in the Norwegian Judicial System. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland (2023). The ECtHR and the bureaucracy: Implications of International Litigation on Norwegian Child Protection Practice. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland; Marit Skivenes; Katrin Teresa Maria Kriz (2023). ‘Gauging the Child’s Presence and Voice in Adoption Proceedings of Children from Care in Seven European Countries: Applying a Child Equality Perspective’. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland (2022). Promoting participatory approaches to child maltreatment surveillance.. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland (2025). Fair trial for children in the European Court of Human Rights? An analysis of child protection judgements on Article 8 from 1959-2022. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland (2025). Implementing International Human Rights Case Law at the Domestic Street-Level: The Case of Norwegian Child Protection. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland; Marit Skivenes (2025). Child Rights in the European Court of Human Rights. (external link)
Lecture
- Hege Stein Helland; Marit Skivenes (2019). Adopsjon som barneverntiltak. (external link)
- Marit Skivenes; Hege Beate Stein Helland (2019). Adopsjon som barnevernstiltak – lansering av forskningsrapport.. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland; Marit Skivenes (2020). Adopsjon som barneverntiltak - Terskler og skjønn. (external link)
- Marit Skivenes; Hege Stein Helland; Siri Gloppen (2025). Book Launch: Child Protection and the European Court of Human Rights. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland; Marit Skivenes (2020). Barns medvirkning – presentasjon av en forstudie og Fjeld-utvalgets hovedfunn. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland (2019). Adopsjon som barneverntiltak. (external link)
- Elaine Sutherland; Nichloas Bala; Lesley-Anne Macfarlane et al. (2021). UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Articles 3 and 12: Opportunities and Challenges. (external link)
- Hege Beate Stein Helland (2018). Et barnevern i krise? Om skjønn, legitimitet og beslutninger i barnevernet. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland (2019). Adopsjon som barneverntiltak. (external link)
- Marit Skivenes; Hege Stein Helland; Mathea Loen et al. (2026). Seminar med MR-N. (external link)
- Marit Skivenes; Hege Stein Helland; Mathea Loen et al. (2026). Presentations: A Study on Child Protection and Foster Care in Norway. (external link)
- Hege Beate Stein Helland (2018). Fag og forskning 2018 - Hege Stein Helland. (external link)
- Siri Hansen Pedersen; Hege Beate Stein Helland; Katre Luhamaa et al. (2018). Child’s best interest principle. (external link)
- Hege Beate Stein Helland; June Thoburn; Tarja Pösö et al. (2018). The Critique of Child Protection and Children’s Rights. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland (2023). Why does the anti-liberal countermovement care about the Norwegian child protection services?. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland (2019). Adopsjon som barneverntiltak - Nordland 2019. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland (2021). Adopsjon som barneverntiltak. (external link)
Media feature article
Academic book chapter
- Hege Stein Helland; Marit Skivenes; Siri Gloppen (2025). Children's Rights under pressure: Norway, the European Court of Human Rights and the challenge of welfare state legitimacy. (external link)
- Marit Skivenes; Hege Beate Stein Helland (2021). Adoption from care in Norway. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland; Marit Skivenes; Siri Gloppen (2025). The European Court of Human Rights: an untapped source for advancing child rights?. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland; Sveinung Nygård (2021). Understanding attachment in decisions on adoption from care in Norway. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland (25). Implementing international human rights law at the domestic street level: the case of Norwegian child protection. (external link)
- Hege Beate Stein Helland; Katrin Teresa Maria Kriz; Marit Skivenes (2023). Gauging the child’s presence and voice in adoption proceedings of children from care in seven European countries: applying a child equality perspective. (external link)
Non-fiction book chapter
Academic article
- Hege Beate Stein Helland; Siri Hansen Pedersen; Marit Skivenes (2020). Adopsjon eller offentlig omsorg? En studie av befolkningens syn på adopsjon som tiltak i barnevernet. (external link)
- Hege Beate Stein Helland; Katrin Kriz; Sagrario Segado Sánchez-Cabezu et al. (2017). Are there population biases against migrant children? An experimental analysis of attitudes towards corporal punishment in Austria, Norway and Spain. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland (2024). Reconciling Children's Best Interests and Right to be Heard. (external link)
- Rosi Enroos; Hege Beate Stein Helland; Tarja Pösö et al. (2017). The role and function of spokesperson in care order proceedings: A cross-country study in Finland and Norway. (external link)
- Kenneth Burns; Hege Beate Stein Helland; Katrin Križ et al. (2020). Corporal punishment and reporting to child protection authorities: An empirical study of population attitudes in five European countries. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland (2021). In the Best Interest of the Child? Justifying Decisions on Adoption from Care in the Norwegian Supreme Court. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland; Siri Hansen Pedersen; Marit Skivenes (2022). Comparing population view´s on state responsibility for children in vulnerable situations – the role of institutional context and socio-demographic characteristics. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland (2021). Reasoning between rules and discretion: A comparative study of the normative platform for best interest decision-making on adoption in England and Norway. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland (2024). ‘Does age and maltreatment matter? A survey experiment of the nordic populations’ attitudes towards participation’. (external link)
- Hege Beate Stein Helland (2020). Tipping the scales: The power of parental commitment in decisions on adoption from care. (external link)
- Jill Duerr Berrick; Hege Stein Helland; Marit Skivenes (2024). Public Rights Orientations and Views on Long-Term Care Options for Children in the Child Protection System: An Analysis of Representative Samples of Adults in California, USA and Norway. (external link)
Doctoral thesis (PhD)
Research report
- Marit Skivenes; Hege Beate Stein Helland (2019). Rapport: Adopsjon som barneverntiltak.. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland; Marit Skivenes (2020). Delrapport til strategiprosessen BarnUnge21: Forskning som støtter praksis, utdanning og innovasjon. (external link)
- Hege Stein Helland; Kaja Eek-Larsen; Lisette Holm et al. (2019). Mot et Barneperspektiv i Barnevernet: En studie av implementeringen av programmet Mitt Liv Barnevern. (external link)
- Rune Fjeld; Marit Sissel Irene Skivenes; Karin Sasaoka et al. (2020). Gjennomgang av ti særlig konfliktfylte barnevernssaker i Bergen kommune.. (external link)
Professional article
Projects
- Researcher at the research project Child Protection Systems Across the World – Centre for Research on Discretion and Paternalism (DIPA) funded by the Research Council of Norway and the University of Bergen
- Postdoctoral fellow at the research project Legitimacy challenges for children´s rights and the child protection system funded by the Research Council of Norway
- Researcher at the research project Discretion and the Child’s Best Interests in Child Protection funded by the European Research Council (ERC)
- PhD-candidate at the research project The Acceptability of Child Protection Interventions: A Cross-Country Analysis with project "Adoption in the best interest of the child: A study of paternalism and the normative boundaries for legitimate welfare state intervention in England and Norway"
- Researcher at the research project Adoption as a Child Welfare Measure. The project was funded by The Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs and runs from November 2016 to December 2018.
- Research Assistant at the research project Legitimacy and Fallibility in Child Welfare Services: A Cross-Country Study of Decision-Making funded by the Norwegian Research Council and runs from September 2012 to June 2017.