On Sunday, the twins Mina and Mille Hjalmarsen would have turned 18. The sisters escaped from a child protection institution in January last year, and later died of an overdose. They were only 16 years old. To mark the day, the mother Kirsti Skogsholm has arranged a large memorial concert. Around 4,000 spectators turned up to remember the twins. – It is a bad anniversary. But doing this now with the sea of people, it’s moving, says Skogsholm. Artist and poet Trygve Skaug means a lot to the twins’ mother Kirsti Skogsholm. Photo: Lars Håkon Pedersen / news The artist and poet Trygve Skaug opened the concert in Askim. The artists El Papi, Erika Norwich, Lavrans and Plumbo will also pay tribute on stage. For the group of friends of Mina and Mille, it is a special day. It’s hard to accept that your friend is gone, explains Vilde Gundersen Lysjø. – It doesn’t feel real. But it’s nice that they get such a nice 18th birthday when they don’t get to be here themselves, says Gundersen Lysjø. Open about drugs and mental health The day is demanding for mother Kirsti Skogsholm, but for her it is worth it to organize a concert. She is keen to talk about mental health and how to prevent substance abuse among young people. It is an important theme at the memorial concert. – We will talk about everything I missed a lot when my girls got sick. Kirsti Skogsholm, the mother of the twins Mina and Mille Hjalmarsen, welcomed the spectators. Photo: Lars Håkon Pedersen / news Skogsholm sees the concert as the starting point for the foundation she has started. – We will continue to work especially with relatives and, not least, be able to influence, so we get some changes in the system. Crushing supervisory report The twin sisters became throwing balls in the system. They visited twelve different institutions before they were found dead, after escaping from the child welfare institution Fossumkollektivet. The twins Mina and Mille Hjalmarsen turned 16. Photo: Privat In February, the State Administrator in Vestland presented a devastating inspection report on the treatment the sisters received before they died. Neither Indre Østfold municipality nor Østfold Hospital were able to give Mina and Mille the help they needed, was the conclusion. The investigations revealed deficiencies in common professional understanding, cooperation and the coordination of the follow-up of the twin girls. Investigating still East police district is still investigating whether anything criminal happened when Mina and Mille died. They expect to complete the investigation during the autumn, writes police attorney Benedicte Granrud in an e-mail to news. Police crime technicians at the apartment in Spydeberg where Mina and Mille were found dead in January last year. Photo: Freddie Larsen Two men are charged with the twins’ deaths. One of them is charged with negligent homicide, and for having left the girls in a helpless state. The other accused of having left Mina and Mille in a helpless state. None of them plead guilty. The Special Unit for Police Affairs has not finished its investigation either. They are investigating whether the Eastern Police District broke the law when they did not track the phones of Mina and Mille, despite the fact that the institution they were staying at requested it. This has happened since Mina and Mille died. On the night of Sunday 8 January, the police went to an apartment in Spydeberg. There, Mina Alexandra and Mille Andrea Hjalmarsen (16) were found lifeless. They died after an overdose of heroin. Later the same day, it became clear that the girls who were found had measures taken by child protection. A now 28-year-old man was arrested at the address where the girls were found, and was charged with negligent homicide. On the same day, a now 19-year-old man was arrested and charged with having sold drugs to the twins. Both deny guilt. Minister for Children and Families Kjersti Toppe (Sp) asks the Norwegian Health Authority to investigate all deaths linked to child welfare institutions in the last five years. The state administrator in Oslo and Viken opens inspections to investigate whether Mina and Mille received proper help and follow-up from child welfare and the health system. Children’s ombudsman Inga Bejer Engh believes that the cooperation between the health system, child protection and schools is too poor. In an interview with TV 2, she said that it is urgent to put in place a system that works optimally. A packed Askim church says goodbye to Mina and Mille. In the obituary, the family writes “Two destinies, one life. Together you came into our lives, together you have now left us.” Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB The state administrator in Oslo and Viken decides to supervise Østfold Hospital. The police receive the final autopsy report after the twin sisters’ deaths. The police believe the girls died of heroin overdoses. The State Administrator in Vestland is taking over the ongoing supervision case, because the State Administrator in Oslo and Viken has dealt with several of Mina and Mille’s cases. Children’s Welfare believes the twin sisters did not receive the necessary help in the specialist health service. Child protection also admits that they have made misjudgments in their work. The mother of Mina and Mille, Kirsti Skogsholm, receives Mental Health’s transparency award. Skogsholm receives the prize for the courage and openness she has shown in the fight to highlight the shortcomings in mental health care. Eight seriously mentally ill girls, including Mina and Mille, have died in the last five years while living in a child welfare institution. The Norwegian Health Authority believes that all eight received a lack of health care before they died. The specialist unit for police cases will investigate the work of the police in advance of the deaths. The police failed to track the sisters’ mobile phones, despite employees at the institution Fossumkollektivet asking for it. The trial starts against a man in his 30s who is accused of sexually assaulting Mina. The man pleaded not guilty to assault, but was later sentenced to prison for one year and two months. The specialist unit for police cases has opened an investigation against the East police district after the deaths. The police did not track the twin sisters’ mobile phones when they were reported missing around a day before they were found dead. The state administrator in Vestland comes with crushing criticism in his inspection report. They have uncovered shortcomings in common professional understanding, cooperation and the coordination of the follow-up of the twin girls. Neither Indre Østfold municipality nor Østfold Hospital was able to provide Mina and Mille with proper health care, is the conclusion. Show more Published 11/08/2024, at 18.45
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Thousands turned up to remember twins Mina and Mille Hjalmarsen in Askim – news Østfold – Local news, TV and radio
