“Extremely serious”. “Potentially catastrophic error”. This is how the Norwegian Data Protection Authority and the Children’s Ombudsman describe the failures that caused notifications to the child welfare services not to be made. 244 Norwegian municipalities may be affected and at least 24 messages have been lost in Bergen alone. Didn’t hear anything from child protection The mistake was discovered when a public health nurse in Bergen was supposed to notify about the conditions at home for two children. The situation was serious, said the nurse, who sent a notice to the child protection service on 1 February this year. This is shown in the notice of deviation Bergen municipality sent to the Norwegian Data Protection Authority, which news has been given access to. Shortly afterwards, it received a receipt that the notice had been sent. But more than a month later, on 10 March, she discovered that she had heard nothing more from the child protection service. She therefore contacted the reception at the children’s welfare office. There they confirmed that they had not received the message into their system. A further month later, on 12 April, the child protection service contacted KS to report the discrepancy. On 8 May, two months after the error was discovered, Visma opened a case. In the meantime, at least six reports of concern have disappeared. These are the 21 missing reports of concern Bergen municipality knows about the district and the time of the 21 missing reports of concern to child welfare. They ask those who know the date and time to contact child protection again. 25.02.2021 13:03:46 Bergenhus/Årstad 01.06.2021 10:42:25 Bergenhus/Årstad 09.09.2021 14:35:40 Fana/Ytrebygda 25.10.2021 13:21:28 Fana/Ytrebygda 25.01.2022 12:21 :26 Fana/Ytrebygda 01.02.2022 10:39:57 Fana/Ytrebygda 09.02.2022 09:39:01 Fana/Ytrebygda 18.02.2022 14:47:10 Fana/Ytrebygda 04.04.2022 15:27:39 Bergenhus/Årstad 22.04. .2022 10:53:10 Bergenhus/Årstad 28/07/2022 10:27:10 Bergenhus/Årstad 04/11/2022 13:33:16 Arna og Åsane 20/12/2022 13:41:36 Fyllingsdalen/Laksevåg 06/01/2023 15:17: 26 Arna and Åsane 06.02.2023 09:49:06 Fyllingsdalen/Laksevåg 31.03.2023 13:47:25 Bergenhus/Årstad 31.03.2023 14:51:26 Fyllingsdalen/Laksevåg 03.04.2023 14:55:23 Bergenhus/Årstad 18.04. 2023 14:48:18 Fyllingsdalen/Laksevåg 27.04.2023 11:57:03 Fana/Ytrebygda 02.05.2023 14:27:22 Fyllingsdalen/Laksevåg Must be submitted within 72 hours Knut Schjerven Roald is the data protection officer in Bergen municipality. He sent a newspaper report to the Norwegian Data Protection Authority about the incident. – This is a serious matter. Here I have to look at our routines. It is legislated that such error messages must be sent to the Norwegian Data Protection Authority within 72 hours. Here it took two months. He adds that the discrepancy turned out to be more serious and on a larger scale than first thought. – What I am reacting to is that the deviation was not reported earlier. It has taken too long, says Roald. The Norwegian Data Protection Authority has no comment on the fact that it took two months before it was discovered until it was notified. – We will take a closer look at this when we deal with the case, communications director Janne Stang Dahl wrote to news. City council leader Rune Bakervik calls the situation of failure in the system very serious. Photo: NTB / NTB Concern reports have disappeared It was Bergen municipality that informed the child welfare service on Monday about the error in the notification system. Certain reports of concern have been deleted, without the child protection service receiving the notification. The person who notified has nevertheless received notification that the notification has been received. There are 244 municipalities that use the “Familia” system, which was created and operated by Visma. In Bergen, the municipality is known to have 24 messages that have disappeared. Three of them have been tracked down, the rest are still unknown to child protection, both in terms of content and persons. – This means that we have children in the city that someone wants to report concerns about, but that we have not been notified about, says children’s councilor Line Berggren Jacobsen. Children’s Council, Line Berggren Jacobsen, says she takes the situation seriously. Photo: NTB She says she was informed about the situation last Thursday. The error has now been corrected and they are working to get an overview of how many people have been affected. – Bergen municipality asks everyone who has sent a report of concern during this time period to get in touch, even if they have received a notification that the concern has been registered, she says. The municipality writes that even if the Visma error did not lead to major consequences for the child, under other circumstances it could have had serious consequences.
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