A tribute to the neighbors – Ytring

Recently, we have been able to follow the case in Bergen, where a boy was found emaciated in his own home. The boy fell through our entire safety net. It seems that the child’s rights have been violated, one by one. The neighbors in the resource-rich neighborhood in Bergen had for one year and three months been watching and warning. “The only indication that he is alive is that neighbors hear the crying that he has changed his voice,” the neighbors write to the children’s welfare service, according to Aftenposten. Still, nothing happened. Meanwhile, the neighbors saw nothing of the boy for long periods of time, while months passed. They heard screams, banging and crying from the apartment. Only one year and three months after the first warning, the neighbors were finally heard. Then a full alarm was sounded. The boy was found severely malnourished, with a body that clearly showed signs of not having been taken care of and a teenage soul that had been isolated for much of his life. But this text is not about everything that went wrong. This is a tribute to those who did something right – the neighbours. Because when everything goes wrong, and those who were supposed to look after us don’t do it anyway, then we are dependent on someone outside. Someone who sees us and looks after us. Then the safe fellow who dares to care is needed. The good “neighbourliness” and the good old-fashioned collective responsibility that then Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland talked about in his New Year’s speech in 1996, inspired by a text Anne Holt wrote in VG just before. In Norwegian law, we have something called a duty to guard. This is a duty that all people have, including those who have a duty of confidentiality. It is personal, and that means the duty is yours and mine. When we think it is certain or most likely that a child is experiencing abuse at home, we must notify the police, child welfare or try to prevent the abuse in some other way. The duty applies going forward in time, and the goal is to prevent things that have not yet happened from happening. Mistreatment that has occurred can mean that we believe it is most likely that new mistreatment may occur. We can also notify to prevent consequences of the mistreatment. Not providing the necessary health care or food for your child can be such abuse. The same applies to physical, psychological and sexual abuse. Sometimes we may think something is off, we see things that worry us. Or maybe we don’t see the children at all. Perhaps the children are showing signs that not everything is as it should be. We must dare to take this fear for the children around us seriously. Because sometimes it may be only us who can see the child. Sometimes the child falls through the entire safety net designed to catch vulnerable children. These times it may be only us who can speak up. As private individuals, we can always call and consult with child protection or the police if we are in doubt about a situation. And even if you have a position where you have a duty of confidentiality, the duty to protect still comes first. You can also call and discuss the matter anonymously in the first instance. We don’t have to be afraid to care. If you call child welfare or the police, I hope you feel that you are an important player in a system that is designed to take care of those who cannot take care of themselves. The duty to prevent is a help to us, and thus something we can lean on. The legislature has decided for us that some things are so important to protect other people from that we must notify them. When the neighbors called the child welfare services one January evening last year, they did exactly what they were supposed to do. Fortunately, they had not given up, even though they had warned several times during the past year, without anything happening. They persevered and spoke up until someone understood the seriousness of it. Thus, these neighbors are good role models for us all. When we think it is most likely that children or adults around us are living with abuse from their loved ones, I hope that we also speak up. Then you and I can also help someone who, due to circumstances, has become unable to help themselves. Because we need people like that. Those who do not turn away, but who see and do something.



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