Child Welfare Services – Support Measures
Does your child need help? Does your family need support to manage a difficult everyday life? Child welfare services can assist children and support families in many ways.
Description
When receiving help from child welfare services, support is usually provided within the home. It is only in rare cases that it is in the child’s best interest to live elsewhere. Most of the child welfare service's work focuses on supporting and strengthening parents to help them manage daily life with their children.
Support measures from child welfare services may include:
- Guidance and support for the family
- Strengthening the child's social skills
- Improving parent-child interactions
- Assigning a support person for the child
- Kindergarten placement or respite care
- Voluntary placement in a foster home or institution
Once support measures are implemented, child welfare services will monitor whether they are effective or if new measures are needed. A plan will be created for both the support measures and the follow-up of the child and family. This plan will outline the goals, contents, and duration of the support measures.
Target group
Children under 18 years old. After turning 18, support measures can continue until the age of 25, if the young adult requests it.
Criteria/conditions
To qualify for support measures from child welfare services, the need must be greater than what is typical for most other children and families. Child welfare services assess the situation based on the child's care environment or behavioral challenges.
Charges/Cost of the service
Brochures, documents, maps, etc.
Cooperating authorities
Acts
This is a statutory service. See in particular Barnevernsloven Kapittel 3, § 8-1 and Kapittel 12.
Guidelines – applying for, or receiving the service
You can contact the child welfare services in your municipality and request a meeting. During the conversation, child welfare services will assess the type of help and support your family needs.
Administrative procedure
Decisions regarding support measures are made through a written administrative decision. If child welfare services decide not to grant support measures, this decision must also be made in writing.
The decision will include:
- Factual information
- Child welfare service’s assessments
- The child’s own opinions
It must be clearly stated how the child's best interests and the family's needs have been considered.
Parents with parental responsibility have the right to be informed of all decisions.
Children must receive understandable information and be given the opportunity to express their opinions.
The child's family and network will be involved as far as it is in the child's best interest.
Child welfare services must also consider the child's ethnicity, culture, language, and religion.
Child welfare services must maintain a journal for each child, containing:
- Essential factual information
- Professional assessments used in decision-making.
Time taken to consider the application
Child welfare services must process the case as soon as possible. If a decision cannot be made within one month, you must receive written notification explaining the delay and an estimated timeframe for the decision.
Possibilities to appeal; procedure
If you are dissatisfied with the decision, you can appeal to the municipality within three weeks of receiving it.
Your appeal should explain:
- What you are dissatisfied with
- Why you believe the decision should be changed
The municipality is obligated to assist you with your appeal if you request help.
If the municipality upholds its decision, the case will be forwarded to the County Governor, who will determine whether the appeal should be upheld.
Tjenesten oppdatert: 14.02.2025 15:03