In 2015 BLD gave the Family Law Courts for child protection and social cases the task of implementing a conversation process trial in five Family Law Courts. The two year trial period started in May 2016 in the Family Law Courts in Oslo and Akershus, Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane, Møre og Romsdal, Rogaland and Trøndelag. It is practical to have concrete experiences, results and the process documented during the trial, in order to get a knowledge basis for an assessment of how the trial shall be followed-up after the trial period has expired. BLD would, therefore, now like an external evaluation of the conversation process as a form of case management in the five mentioned trial Family Law Courts. The trial period will be extended as a result of the evaluation. The trial could also be extended to more Family Law Courts.

The evaluation shall shed light upon whether the goal of the conversation process has been achieved. According to the Child Protection Act, the aim of the conversation process is to ‘try to find common ground between the parties’. There is also a goal of creating a joint understanding of the child's needs and the parents' possibilities to meet them, which in turn supports the goal of creating an understanding of others' points of view, in order to make it easier to improve cooperation. The evaluation shall be based on the Guidelines for the Conversation Process in Family Law Courts and Comments to the Guidelines for the Conversation Process in Family Law Courts, the Child Protection Act § 7-25, the trial with the conversation process and preliminary work for the provision.

By following the work and the processes closely, the evaluator shall document how the Family Law Courts have implemented and carry out the trial based on the guidelines. The evaluator shall document and assess any differences in case management in the Family Law Courts and generate knowledge on which mechanisms influence case material and case proceedings. Furthermore, the evaluator shall generate knowledge on the advantages and disadvantages of using the conversation process and give proposals as to how the scheme ought to be arranged or adjusted if the scheme is made permanent.

See annex 1 of the research contract, the Contracting Authority's Description of the Assignment, for further details.