Parental follow-up after child removal: a scoping review - Protocol for scoping review

Summary

Having children placed in public care (child removal) is a serious event, which has major consequences for both parents and children. Parents who experience child removal often have pre-existing assistance- and support needs, which are exacerbated after the child has been placed in public care. The child protective services are obligated to follow-up and offer guidance shortly after a child removal. However, the relationship between child protective services and parents is often marred by mistrust and animosity. To ensure the best possible follow-up of parents after child removal, it may therefore be pertinent for the family counselling services to offer parents support, counselling, and treatment.

The purpose of this review is to map and present the available research on the effects of- and experiences with parental follow-up after child removal within services that correspond to the Norwegian family counselling services (‘familievernet’).

We will perform a scoping review, which is a type of systematic review that maps and narratively describes existing research in a specific knowledge area. To identify relevant studies, a librarian will perform literature searches in relevant databases - such as PsycINFO, MEDLINE and Embase. We will include empirical primary studies and systematic reviews from the years 2005-2022 on the effects of or experiences with parental follow-up after child removal. Researchers will screen relevant studies according to the inclusion criteria. For each of the included studies, we will extract relevant information and assess the studies’ methodological limitations. Results and conclusions from the included studies will be narratively presented.