“Markus” was 14 when he moved into a child welfare institution. He struggled with chaos in his head, concentration difficulties and social anxiety. – I rushed to calm down, says Markus. According to him, it was not difficult to obtain drugs while he lived in the institutions. – I gained a network all over Norway. I could get hold of anything, says Markus. Around 1,000 children live in institutions around the country. On social media, some young people talk about drug use in child welfare institutions. In one of the videos, a fair-haired girl dances while this text floats over the screen: “I smoked a joint when I was 13, moved on to pills and heroin. And when I became drug-free, five years had passed. I just wanted to numb the pain. I wanted to prove that I could be happy and cool.” There have also been several media reports about the use of drugs in institutions: Faksimile Dagbladet, 16 April 2018. Faksimile Bergens Tidende, 21 February 2009. Faksimile Dagsavisen, 6 June 2009. This summer, the government appointed a committee to investigate institutional child welfare. The aim is to come up with proposals that will lead to better help for the children in the institutions. When the child protection institution committee wanted input, the Norwegian Police Directorate stepped in. Exposed too early The Norwegian Police Directorate has collected experiences from individual police districts and has written a statement to the committee. The statement also states that the police feel that they spend a lot of resources on extortion, escapes and returns. The children therefore meet the police much earlier than necessary, and the Norwegian Police Directorate questions whether this is the best for the child. It also states that the police believe that staffing at some institutions is low and that the staff are unsure of how to handle the young people. Read the full input from the Directorate of Police here: 1. General information about the situation: The police are not in a position to give an assessment of the situation in the child welfare institution’s services. On the other hand, the police have experience of cases where the provision is not able to ensure peace, order and safety for the child they care for, or for the child’s surroundings. The Norwegian Police Directorate has gathered experiences and views from individual police districts. Overall and in general, the impression is that the offer is not robust enough that the police have to step in too early. The directorate has been informed about; General increase in the number of assistance missions to child protection institutions – outings, escapes and returns Many escapes, and the police end up using a lot of resources on searches and transport. Often repeatedly for the same person in a relatively short period of time. The staffing at the institutions is perceived to be low and the staff appear unsure of when and how to intervene with children/young people. It appears as if more children/young people are staying for a long time in an emergency institution due to a lack of offers for final placement. Impression that employees at the institution are concerned about supervision by the State Trustee if force is used. Possible adverse consequence; The children and young people in question are left to and exposed to the police’s use of tools both earlier and more often than necessary. Questions are asked as to whether this is the best for the child. There is established cooperation between the police and municipalities related to prevention. Centrally, there is also interaction between child welfare institutions and municipalities, so that institutions are not left outside the services of the host municipality, where there is often a strong focus on interdisciplinary prevention and early intervention. Requires the municipalities to have an overview of which institutional services have been established in the municipality at any given time. From the police’s side, the challenges appear to be two-fold: resources and powers 2. Challenges that the committee should place particular emphasis on in its work Is the institutional child welfare set up with sufficient resources to take care of its care obligations right up to the point where it is right and necessary for the police to take over, or is the handling of the child and young person left too soon and too often to the police? There should be a sufficient number of institutions with the right expertise for children/young people who need it. More institutions should have expertise in mental health – this is closely linked to substance abuse and behavior. Experience that some institutions become an “entrance ticket” to substance abuse for some young people – institutional child protection should also focus on the “contagion effect” of this The committee should also focus on suicidal children; especially young girls, who often end up in an “eternal loop” between institutions, the police and health. Is the institution’s childcare staff set up with sufficient authority to be able to take care of their responsibility for care and treatment? It is felt that the rights regulations are interpreted and applied differently in practice. It is also asked whether this is sufficiently suitable to ensure fixed frameworks for the institution (sleep, food, continuity of carers) – or whether these assumptions are challenged to a large extent by repeated escapes Limitation against forced use; The police believe that coercive use has an absolutely necessary place as part of the topics to be investigated by the committee. 3. Relevant, ongoing processes that are covered by the committee’s mandate The police’s children’s supervisor – soon on target Development of the police’s complaints system – arrangements for children to have real access to complaints Bufdir’s audit of supervisors – children who escape from institutions – POD will contribute to the work Don’t be surprised The head of the child welfare institution committee, Erik Stene, has read the input from the Norwegian Police Directorate. He is not surprised. Stene says that developments in recent years show that young people who come to child welfare institutions have greater and more complex challenges than before. – We have also received input from others regarding several of the conditions that the Directorate of Police has pointed out. Substance abuse is also a well-known challenge for those who run the institutions. He says that they are in an early phase of the selection process, but that input from the police is important. – We will take that with us further into the work when we have to propose how we can best organize the institutions in the future, says Stene. Erik Stene is specialist director in the Norwegian Health Authority and heads the committee whose aim is to find out how children in institutions can get better help. Photo: Morten Waagø / news Need to do better at prevention Minister for Children and Families Kjersti Toppe says she is aware that some young people develop harmful or harmful drug use while living in an institution. It is not the first time she has heard of experiences similar to those Markus has had. – It is sad to hear such stories. We must work on how the institutions can become better at detecting and preventing harmful drug use, says Toppe. The Minister for Children and Families says they want open institutions without locked doors, with the least possible use of coercion and force. At the same time, she sees that social media has made it easier to buy drugs. This has also meant that it has become more difficult for the employees to control access to drugs. Kjersti Toppe says that the child welfare institution committee will assess measures to prevent drug use among children in institutions. – The most important thing, however, is the work that employees do to create security and development for the young people in the institutions every day. If they succeed in this, it will be the most important way to prevent harmful drug use, she says. Minister for Children and Families Kjersti Toppe (Sp) believes that young people in institutions can be particularly vulnerable to developing harmful drug use. Photo: Morten Waagø / news Several tell about drug addiction In a report from the children’s ombudsman in 2020, young people in child welfare institutions say that they have experienced drug addiction at the institution and that it seemed like they could do whatever they wanted there. This summer, the Norwegian Health Authority wrote that they had experienced that substance abuse problems are not caught by child protection institutions, and that there is a significant proportion of children who are at risk of developing substance abuse problems. Markus is now of legal age and has recovered from his addiction and no longer lives in an institution. Now he is looking forward to a more normal life. – If I hadn’t ended up in child protection, I would have had an education by now, and probably wouldn’t have become a drug addict, he says.
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The police believe that some child welfare institutions become the entrance ticket to drug use – news Trøndelag
