Child Welfare Removals by the State examines how child protection systems in eight modern, democratic states proceed when deciding whether to remove vulnerable children from their home. In particular, it analyzes socio-legal decision-making systems at the exact point when care is decided, including court, court-like, and voluntary removal systems.

Acknowledgements Contributors Chapter 1: Child Welfare Removals by the State -- Complex and Controversial Decisions Kenneth Burns, Tarja Pösö, and Marit Skivenes Chapter 2: Removals of Children in Finland: A Mix of Voluntary and Involuntary Decisions Tarja Pösö and Raija Huhtanen Chapter 3: Norway: Child Welfare Decision-Making in Cases of Removals of Children Marit Skivenes and Karl Harald Søvig Chapter 4: Placing Children in State Care in Sweden: Decision-Making Bodies, Laypersons, and Legal Framework Gustav Svensson and Staffan Höjer Chapter 5: Removing Children from their Families due to Child Protection in Germany Monika Haug and Theresia Höynck Chapter 6: Child Removal Proceedings in Switzerland Stefan Schnurr Chapter 7: Child Removal Decision-Making Systems in Ireland: Law, Policy and Practice Kenneth Burns, Conor O'Mahony, Caroline Shore, and Aisling Parkes Chapter 8: State Intervention in Family Life in England: Safeguarding Children through Care Proceedings and Adoption Karen Broadhurst Chapter 9: How Children are Removed from Home in the United States Katrin Kriz, Janese Free, and Grant Kuehl Chapter 10: Removals of Children by the Child Welfare System -- Variations and Differences Across Countries Kenneth Burns, Tarja Pösö, and Marit Skivenes Index

Selling point: Offers new insights on a topic on which limited preexisting research exists. Selling point: Provides cross-country research. Selling point: Challenges traditionally held views on the State, children, and families.

Kenneth Burns, PhD, is a college lecturer and Deputy Director of the Master of Social Work programme at University College Cork, Ireland and a research associate with ISS21 (UCC). He has worked as a social worker and social work team leader in child protection and welfare. Dr. Burns is the Principal Investigator of the inter-disciplinary Child Care Proceedings Research Group at UCC and has published widely on child protection and welfare, staff welfare and retention, social work and community-based participatory research. He is also a co-national lead for Campus Engage on Community-based research and part of a Horizon 2020 multi-country study on Responsible Research & Innovation called EnRRICH. Tarja Pösö, PhD, is Professor in Social Work at the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Tampere, Finland. She has a long experience of more than 20 years in studying child welfare from different perspectives, with a keen interest in cross-cultural perspectives and exploring methods and ethics for child welfare studies. Her work has been published in national and international journals and books. Marit Skivenes, PhD, is Professor of Political Science at the Department of Administration & Organization Theory at the University of Bergen, Norway. She also holds a professor II position at Bergen University College. Dr. Skivenes has extensive experience in comparative research on child welfare systems, and decision-making processes within these systems. Besides teaching and departmental obligations, she has managed and completed several large scale, cross-country research projects and established an internationally renowned child welfare research network. She has contributed to the field with several co-edited books, book chapters, reports and peer-reviewed journal articles, featuring both Norway-specific, and cross country comparisons of child welfare policies and practices.

Selling point: Offers new insights on a topic on which limited preexisting research exists. Selling point: Provides cross-country research. Selling point: Challenges traditionally held views on the State, children, and families.