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More than 700 refugee children need a new home

Prime Minister Erna Solberg visit the new reception center for asylum seekers in Råde in ØstfoldPrime Minister Erna Solberg visit the new reception center for asylum seekers in Råde in Østfold.Photo: Vidar Ruud / NTB scanpix

736 refugee children under age 15 are living in child care centers. Prime Minister Erna Solberg hopes more Norwegians will open up their homes to the children.
Most of the children applying for asylum are granted residence and this means they will need a foster home or become a part of a shared flat  in a municipality. According to VG, the need will increase further. Authorities believe a further 900 children under 15 years will come to Norway this year. One-third of those children will need foster care, estimates Bufetat.
The Prime Minister hopes that more will sign up as foster parents for the children who arrive in Norway without any parents or other grownup relati.
– We need many today who can lend a helping hand and become foster parents. These children need someone to take care of them. From  what we’ve seen, it’s not extremely difficult, just being a normal family is enough, says Erna Solberg, who along with the newspaper visited 13 year old Ali from Afghanistan and his new family in Bergen.
Ali recently moved from an institution run by CPS.
– It’s good to stay in a family, then I meet certain people every day. Before there were new people after two days, says 13-year-old.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today