The matter in summary The checklist “children under the radar” has led to a tenfold increase in reports of concern from Sørlandet Hospital to the child welfare service since 2019. Psychologist specialist Heidi Wittrup Djup believes the checklist is an oversimplification and that the child welfare service is involved too often. Djup is concerned that healthcare personnel do not have a good enough legal understanding of when the duty of confidentiality must be set aside. Human rights lawyer Gro Hillestad Thune believes that employees in the welfare sector send too many reports of concern to child protection in violation of both Norwegian law and human rights. Senior doctor Unni Mette Köpp, initiator and project manager for “Children under the radar”, believes that the checklist should help healthcare personnel to map the situation and make the right assessments. Child welfare manager in Kristiansand, Monica Brunner, believes it is important for the employees at the hospital to have an overview of which cases and incidents should be reported to them. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. – We don’t need more forms and checklists in our health services. Reporting a lot to child welfare does not necessarily mean that we are reporting correctly, says psychologist specialist Heidi Wittrup Djup. news recently reported that the “children under the radar” checklist is now to be used by 14 healthcare organizations across the country. This is “Children under the radar” A tool for healthcare professionals to uncover serious neglect and violence against children. A checklist must be filled out routinely in cases of serious psychiatry, serious drug addiction, suspicion of intimate partner violence or suicide attempts. The aim of the checklist is to find out whether or not a report of concern should be sent to child protection. Started as a pilot project at the emergency services at Sørlandet Hospital five years ago. The tool will now be put into use at 14 other health enterprises in Norway and several are on a waiting list. It is BarnsBeste, a national competence network for children as relatives, that is responsible for the national implementation of the checklist. Senior doctor at the children’s ward in Kristiansand Unni Mette Köpp is the initiator of the tool and heard about it from the Netherlands. The checklist is a tool that healthcare professionals use to detect serious neglect and violence against children. It has led to the number of reports of concern sent from Sørlandet Hospital to child welfare services increasing more than tenfold since 2019. – Going beyond those who need help Djup works at the Clinic for Crisis Psychology in Bergen and also has experience as a pediatric expert in child welfare matters. She is one of several who are critical of the fact that the checklist is now to be distributed to several healthcare organisations. The psychologist believes it is an oversimplification of a very complicated reality. She also believes that the child welfare service is involved far too often. – The child welfare service, which is already on its knees, is under even more pressure because they handle so many messages that should not have been sent. It goes beyond those who really need help and are at risk, says Djup. According to Statistics Norway, in 2022 almost 50,000 messages were sent to child protection services in this country. These 14 healthcare organizations are introducing “Children under the radar” Ahus Oslo University Hospital Inland Hospital Telemark Vestre Viken Hospital Vestfold Hospital Østfold Hospital Lovisenberg Diaconal Hospital Northern Norway University Hospital Bergen Haraldsplass Diaconal Hospital Health Førde Health Fonna Health Stavanger Djup emphasizes that of course you must report to child protection if there is reason to believe that a child is being subjected to serious neglect. She is nevertheless concerned that healthcare personnel do not have a good enough legal understanding of when the duty of confidentiality must be set aside. – I hope that in any case the understanding of the law improves and looks at the possible negative aspects of measures that are being put in place now that this checklist is to be distributed. Consent is important Senior doctor at the children’s ward in Kristiansand Unni Mette Köpp has been the initiator and project manager for “Children under the radar”. She says that they have had a close collaboration with the child welfare services throughout. – Our goal is to send the right messages. The intention of the checklist is that it should help healthcare personnel to map the situation and make the right assessments of whether a message should be sent or not, says Köpp. The superintendent emphasizes that they are keen to enter into a dialogue and preferably get consent from the parents to send a report of concern. Senior doctor Unni Mette Köpp at Sørlandet Hospital clarifies that they only use the checklist where they know there is an increased risk of a child living in severe neglect. Photo: Heidi Ditlefsen / news Dismisses few cases Last year, Sørlandet Hospital sent around 250 reports of concern to child protection. – Of the 250 messages, most were forwarded. Only 50 of them were dismissed, says child welfare manager in Kristiansand Monica Brunner. Brunner says that before the “Children under the radar” project started, they received around 20 messages a year from the hospital. She believes it is important for the employees at the hospital to have an overview of which cases and incidents should be reported to them. – Do you have the impression that the employees receive sufficient training in relation to when they have a duty of confidentiality and when they do not? – Yes, mostly I think the vast majority of people have a good knowledge of this. Child welfare manager in Kristiansand Monica Brunner believes “Children under the radar” is an important project. Photo: Heidi Ditlefsen / news Fears more offenses Human rights lawyer Gro Hillestad Thune is also critical of the fact that “Children under the radar” is now being spread throughout the country. She believes that employees in the welfare sector send far too many reports of concern to child protection in violation of both Norwegian law and human rights, and that this often leads to the wrong outcome. – This must be addressed before even more calls to report are sent out, says Thune. The lawyer believes that you cannot solve a family’s challenge by filling in a form. Human rights lawyer Gro Hillestad Thune believes that employees in the welfare state must gain more knowledge about what responsibility they have to comply with human rights in their work. Photo: Ellen Omland / news Thune previously worked as a judge at the Human Rights Court in Strasbourg. She fears that the checklist will lead to even more offences. Superintendent Köpp says the checklist should help healthcare personnel gain a better legal understanding of whether the criteria in the duty to provide information are present or not. – BarnsBeste is now working on developing more competence for healthcare personnel. 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Psychological specialist fears checklist affects children who really need help – news Sørlandet – Local news, TV and radio
