«Children’s home. Adults’ responsibility» Summary of countrywide supervision of child welfare institutions in 2018
Summary of Report of the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision 3/2019
Children who live in child welfare institutions shall receive adequate care and treatment. They are in a vulnerable life situation. They are taken care of in the institution, without daily contact with their original family. They should be treated with consideration and with respect for their integrity. Their statutory rights shall also be safeguarded. Currently, about 1200 children live in child welfare institutions.
During supervision we detected several areas where there were deficiencies in the way the personnel in the institution got to know the child, followed up the child, and assessed the child’s account of their situation. In order to provide adequate care and prevent the need for the use of restraint, the personnel need to get to know the child well, and to be aware of the challenges the child faces.
In the institutions where we detected deficiencies, the leadership lacked an adequate overview of whether the personnel followed up plans and decisions. They did not ensure that mistakes were detected, evaluated or corrected. The result of this was that the children did not receive adequate care.