In a meeting of the business committee in Bergen municipality on Tuesday, city council leader Roger Valhammer said the following to children who had not been followed up well enough by child protection in Bergen. – On behalf of Bergen municipality, I would like to apologize most deeply. Dyck should have been seen before, caught earlier, and someone should have helped you earlier, he said from the podium. In his speech, he also said that there will now also be more immediate measures. Among other things, they will establish a central reception for reports of concern to child protection. In the past, reports of concern have been handled at district level. At the same time, reports of concern to child protection must be assessed daily, not every week, which has been the practice until now. Changes must also be introduced in routines and practices for investigative work in child protection. – This must be in place as quickly as possible, and no later than 1 November, said Valhammer. Political chaos There is a storm around the city council in Bergen during the day. Several parties have signaled that they are considering whether they have confidence in the current city council. In a press release on Tuesday morning, SV’s city council group in Bergen wrote that they no longer have confidence in city councilor for child protection Katrine Nødtvedt (MDG) and that she should leave. The lack of confidence in the city council comes after several serious reports about the state of child protection in the municipality. And which has had direct consequences for, among other things, a seven-year-old boy. On 8 August this year, he was found tied to a bed, with extensive injuries. In a recent report from the State Administrator in Vestland, it emerged that the boy’s father had asked the child welfare services for help about a month earlier. On Monday evening, the director of child protection in the municipality resigned after the criticism. The state administrator says they have uncovered serious shortcomings in the practice of the child protection service, in that the service has not made professionally sound assessments of the information in the case, among other things. They never spoke to the child either. Many have quit SV believes that the municipality has failed in several serious cases of child abuse and neglect. And that the political responsibility lies with the city council in the field, which is now Katrine Nødtvedt. – Because of this, Bergen SV’s city council group no longer has confidence in the child welfare council, and we will therefore put forward a motion of no confidence against councilor Katrine Nødtvedt in the next city council meeting, says SV’s group leader, Mikkel Grüner. This year alone, around 30 per cent of those employed in child protection have quit, writes Bergens Tidende. Specifically, 33 out of 182 people who have direct contact with the users. Chief trustee for the Community Organization (FO) in the municipality, Ole Mikalsen, who organizes most of the child welfare staff, tells the newspaper that he is worried. – The number is far too high. This shows that working conditions are difficult, says Mikalsen to the newspaper. He further says that they speculate that people have had enough of all the pressure.
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Asks the city council to go after strong criticism of child protection – news Vestland
