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.

Lecture

• Skivenes, Marit; Helland, Hege Stein; Gloppen, Siri (2025). Book Launch: Child Protection and the European Court of Human Rights. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein (2023). Why does the anti-liberal countermovement care about the Norwegian child protection services?. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein (2021). Adopsjon som barneverntiltak. (external link)
• Sutherland, Elaine; Bala, Nichloas; Macfarlane, Lesley-Anne et al. (2021). UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Articles 3 and 12: Opportunities and Challenges. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein; Skivenes, Marit (2020). Barns medvirkning – presentasjon av en forstudie og Fjeld-utvalgets hovedfunn. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein; Skivenes, Marit (2020). Adopsjon som barneverntiltak - Terskler og skjønn. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein; Skivenes, Marit (2019). Adopsjon som barneverntiltak. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein (2019). Adopsjon som barneverntiltak - Nordland 2019. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein (2019). Adopsjon som barneverntiltak. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein (2019). Adopsjon som barneverntiltak. (external link)
• Skivenes, Marit; Helland, Hege Beate Stein (2019). Adopsjon som barnevernstiltak – lansering av forskningsrapport.. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Beate Stein (2018). Et barnevern i krise? Om skjønn, legitimitet og beslutninger i barnevernet. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Beate Stein (2018). Fag og forskning 2018 - Hege Stein Helland. (external link)
• Pedersen, Siri Hansen; Helland, Hege Beate Stein; Luhamaa, Katre et al. (2018). Child’s best interest principle. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Beate Stein; Thoburn, June; Pösö, Tarja et al. (2018). The Critique of Child Protection and Children’s Rights. (external link)

Academic lecture

• Skivenes, Marit; Castagnola, Andrea; Loen, Mathea et al. (2025). Childrens Rights: Trust, Justice & the Future of Welfare Systems. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein (2025). Adoption and Welfare State Governance. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein; Loen, Mathea (2025). Juridification in the Welfare Sector. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein; Skivenes, Marit; Berrick, Jill Duerr et al. (2025). Children’s Rights as Human Rights: Examining the Links between Children and International Human Rights in a Global Context. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein (2025). Child Protection and the European Court of Human Rights. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein (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)
• Helland, Hege Stein (2025). Implementing International Human Rights Case Law at the Domestic Street-Level: The Case of Norwegian Child Protection. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein; Skivenes, Marit (2025). Child Rights in the European Court of Human Rights. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein; Skivenes, Marit (2023). Family Life and Child Protection in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein (2023). Child Protection and Human Rights. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein (2023). The ECtHR and the bureaucracy: Implications of International Litigation on Norwegian Child Protection Practice. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein; Skivenes, Marit; Kriz, Katrin Teresa Maria (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)
• Helland, Hege Stein (2023). The European Court of Human Rights – quo vadis children’s rights?. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein (2022). Promoting participatory approaches to child maltreatment surveillance.. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein (2022). Discretionary Assessments of Contact in Decisions on Adoption. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein (2021). Deciding between continued foster care and adoption - When adoption is not considered to be in the best interest of the child. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein (2019). In the Best Interest of the Child – An Analysis of Judgments on Involuntary Adoption in the Norwegian Judicial System. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Beate Stein; Skivenes, Marit; Tefre, Øyvind Samnøy (2018). In the Best Interest of the Child – An Analysis of Judgments on Involuntary Adoption in the Norwegian Judicial System. (external link)

Academic article

• Helland, Hege Stein (2024). ‘Does age and maltreatment matter? A survey experiment of the nordic populations’ attitudes towards participation’. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein (2024). Reconciling Children's Best Interests and Right to be Heard. (external link)
• Berrick, Jill Duerr; Helland, Hege Stein; Skivenes, Marit (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)
• Helland, Hege Stein; Pedersen, Siri Hansen; Skivenes, Marit (2022). Comparing population view´s on state responsibility for children in vulnerable situations – the role of institutional context and socio-demographic characteristics. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein (2021). In the Best Interest of the Child? Justifying Decisions on Adoption from Care in the Norwegian Supreme Court. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein (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)
• Helland, Hege Beate Stein; Pedersen, Siri Hansen; Skivenes, Marit (2020). Adopsjon eller offentlig omsorg? En studie av befolkningens syn på adopsjon som tiltak i barnevernet. (external link)
• Burns, Kenneth; Helland, Hege Beate Stein; Križ, Katrin et al. (2020). Corporal punishment and reporting to child protection authorities: An empirical study of population attitudes in five European countries. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Beate Stein (2020). Tipping the scales: The power of parental commitment in decisions on adoption from care. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Beate Stein; Kriz, Katrin; Sánchez-Cabezu, Sagrario Segado 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)
• Enroos, Rosi; Helland, Hege Beate Stein; Pösö, Tarja et al. (2017). The role and function of spokesperson in care order proceedings: A cross-country study in Finland and Norway. (external link)

Academic chapter/article/Conference paper

• Helland, Hege Beate Stein; Kriz, Katrin Teresa Maria; Skivenes, Marit (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)
• Helland, Hege Stein; Nygård, Sveinung (2021). Understanding attachment in decisions on adoption from care in Norway. (external link)
• Skivenes, Marit; Helland, Hege Beate Stein (2021). Adoption from care in Norway. (external link)

Doctoral dissertation

• Helland, Hege Stein (2021). Discretion and the Demand for Reasons : Justifications for the Child’s Best Interests in Decisions on Adoption from Care in England and Norway. (external link)

Report

• Helland, Hege Stein; Skivenes, Marit (2020). Delrapport til strategiprosessen BarnUnge21: Forskning som støtter praksis, utdanning og innovasjon. (external link)
• Fjeld, Rune; Skivenes, Marit Sissel Irene; Sasaoka, Karin et al. (2020). Gjennomgang av ti særlig konfliktfylte barnevernssaker i Bergen kommune.. (external link)
• Helland, Hege Stein; Eek-Larsen, Kaja; Holm, Lisette et al. (2019). Mot et Barneperspektiv i Barnevernet: En studie av implementeringen av programmet Mitt Liv Barnevern. (external link)
• Skivenes, Marit; Helland, Hege Beate Stein (2019). Rapport: Adopsjon som barneverntiltak.. (external link)

Chapter

• , ; Skivenes, Marit; Tefre, Øyvind Samnøy (2019). Adopsjon som barneverntiltak – hvor er vi og hvor går vi?. (external link)
• Tefre, Øyvind Samnøy; , (2019). Adopsjonspraksis. (external link)

Article in business/trade/industry journal

• Skivenes, Marit; Helland, Hege Stein (2019). Adopsjon som barneverntiltak. (external link)

Feature article

• Helland, Hege Beate Stein; Skivenes, Marit (2019). Barns rett til familieliv. (external link)
• Juhasz, Ida Benedicte; Helland, Hege Stein; Holm, Lisette et al. (2019). Lovfestet kjærlighet - Endringer i barnevernloven gir barn rett til kjærlighet. Det er unikt i verdenssammenheng. (external link)

See a complete overview of publications in Cristin.

Helland, H.B.S., Kriz, K., Sánchez-Cabezu, S.S. & Skivenes, M. (In press). Are there Population Biases against Migrant Children? An Experimental Analysis of Attitudes towards Corporal Punishment in Austria, Norway and Spain. Children and youth services review 2017 

• 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.