The government will allocate another NOK 50 million toward child welfare services, to raise competence, and create fewer cases of children being taken into protective custody.
‘We have to do something to improve competence of municipal child welfare offices. That is shown in both an oversight of the services, and in several reports,’ said the Minister for Children and Equality, Solveig Horne of Fremskrittsparti (Frp), to Aftenposten newspaper.
The government will spend more than NOK 80 million on child welfare next year, according to the newspaper. Three measures will be made a priority.
A supervisory office will be established to assist municipalities who, over a period of time, face major challenges in the area of child welfare, or where serious flaws have been identified.
A ‘learning network’ will also be established, wherein municipalities in each county can cooperate on joint development projects. This is to reduce vulnerability in smaller academic environments.
Additionally, education will be significantly strengthened to increase the skills of the employees working in child welfare.
The initiative was presented at a dialogue meeting between various concerned parties this week. Among those who participated was the ‘Forandringsfabrikken’, which involves young people, or those who have been through the child welfare system themselves.
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today
