The NOS-HS workshop

The NOS-HS workshop

This workshop brings together researchers, experts, practitioners, nongovernmental organizations and activists from a variety of fields, including sociology, social work, psychology, theology, anthropology, political history and law. This workshop is funded by the The Joint Committee for Nordic research councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NOS-HS) and arranged in collaboration with University of Copenhagen and the SUOJATIE project on transnational child protection funded by the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.

The workshop is part of the workshop series lead by Sanna Mustasaari at the University of Eastern Finland.

Background

The contemporary phenomena of transnational interaction and mobility generate new social relations and pose challenges for child protection. The number of transnational child welfare cases handled by Nordic social workers and other authorities has increased in recent years. However, social services such as child protection are traditionally understood and institutionally organized in territorial terms. When mobility involves abusive situations abroad, few services or legal and bureaucratic means for intervention are available to help the children, and may not be suitable for the diverse forms of harmful situations.

Transnational family relations and social spheres provide various strengths and sources of identity and belonging, but the transnational element may also contribute to power imbalances within families, adding to the hardships of the less powerful family members. In principle, parents and other guardians of the child are obligated to act in the best interests of the child. In practice, however, the authority of parents to decide about their child’s travelling, stays abroad or even moving abroad is almost unlimited. Problematic situations can emerge, for example, in cases of substance abuse when the family is staying abroad, children’s or young people’s involuntary stays abroad and domestic abuse, forced or child marriage, female genital mutilation, abducting children to avoid intervention by the child welfare authorities or taking children to conflict areas. In addition, transnational child protection also covers out-of-home placements of children in other countries. There is a general tendency towards framing problems related to children staying abroad in scattered and fragmented terms.

Program

10:00 CET – 10:15 CET
Postdoctoral Researcher Sanna Mustasaari, University of Eastern Finland: opening words
10:15 CET – 11:00 CET
Associate professor Hanne Hartoft and Associate professor Anne Mørk Pedersen,
Aalborg University, Denmark: On the Run from the Danish Social Authorities
11:00 CET – 11:30 CET
Discussion
11:30 CET –12:00 CET
Associate professor Johanna Hiitola, University of Oulu, Finland: The SUOJATIE project on transnational child protection
12:00 CET – 12:30 CET
Discussion
12:30 CET – 13 CET
General discussion and planning: research needs in the field of transnational child protection

Organizing committee

Silvia Adamo, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen
Anja Bredal, Senior Researcher, Oslo Metropolitan University
Johanna Hiitola, University Lecturer, Gender Studies, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Oulu
Julia Köhler-Olsen, Associate Professor, Department of Social Work, Oslo Metropolitan University
Sanna Mustasaari, Postdoctoral Researcher, UEF Law School, University of Eastern Finland
Nicole Stybnarova, PhD Fellow, Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki

The SUOJATIE project staff

Johanna Hiitola, University Lecturer, Gender Studies, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Oulu
Sanna Mustasaari, Postdoctoral Researcher, UEF Law School, University of Eastern Finland
Maija Jäppinen, Assistant Professor, Social Work, University of Helsinki
Noora Kivioja, PhD Fellow, Social Work, University of Helsinki
Rahma Hersi, PhD Fellow, UEF Law School, University of Eastern Finland
Gorana Panić, PhD Fellow, Gender Studies, University of Oulu
Fairuz Muthana, PhD Fellow, Gender Studies, University of Oulu