“I am skeptical about sending the child to x’s place of residence without further ado.”
That’s what a police officer writes in a notice to child protection in a Norwegian municipality.
The child from Ukraine applied for asylum in Norway just before Christmas last year, together with his aunt. The girl didn’t know anyone else in this country.
The two weren’t supposed to live in asylum reception, but instead move to the aunt’s boyfriend who already lived in Norway.
The child had never met this man.
He looked up the officer in the Police’s immigration unit (PU) in the police’s systems. What was there gave cause for concern.
(…) Sexual comments, threatening behaviour, reckless handling of weapons and use of drugs are not something a child fleeing war should have to deal with. (…)
Because they believe it can identify the girl, the child welfare services in this municipality will not confirm or deny to NRK whether they have received the letter. They therefore cannot answer how she is doing now.
Can be exploited by criminal circles
The girl is one of several asylum children the state has worried about recently.
Already in the spring of last year, all municipalities in Norway were notified of unaccompanied minor asylum seekers who move privately.
“It is likely that some of those who arrive in Norway have been subjected to abuse, exploitation or human trafficking.”
This was written by the Children, Youth and Family Directorate (Bufdir) in a letter that was sent out shortly after refugees from Ukraine arrived in Norway.
These toys await children who arrive in Norway alone or with an accompanying person and must be interviewed by the police.
Photo: Ronald Hole Fossåskaret / NRK
This autumn, the municipalities received another such letter.
The risk applies not only to Ukrainians, but to children from other countries as well, it is specified there.
– That is why there is particular reason to be on the lookout for exploitation or other forms of neglect, says Tove Brusgaard, acting divisional director at Bufdir.
No one has responsibility for care
NRK’s investigations show that over 80 asylum children have moved privately in 2023.
- The police’s immigration unit notified almost 50 local child protection services about over 70 children and young people. 18 of them were of particular concern.
- The Directorate of Immigration (UDI) notified 13 young people between the ages of 15 and 18.
- In addition, Bufdir has announced four children in 2022 and 2023.
In all of these cases, the actors report to the child welfare services in the municipality to which the child is to move.
“It is always worrying about children on the run. Children who arrive without their parents are vulnerable, and it is particularly worrying that they choose to settle privately”
Andreas Pareli election
The police immigration unit
In serious cases, the police immediately contact local child protection services by telephone, emphasizes Andreas Pareli Wahl, section leader at the Norwegian Police’s immigration unit’s registration center in Gardermoen.
But adds:
– PU does not have the mandate or competence to assess the care capacity of accompanying adults.
When the child protection service receives such a message, must they do not investigate whether the child is receiving adequate care.
Child welfare services only have a duty to consider whether they want to check how the child is doing, and whether the adults they live with provide good enough care.
Save the Children is concerned that children may go under the radar.
– If it is not ensured that this always are mapped, we are afraid that children may fall through the cracks, and that unsafe relationships or follow-up needs are not detected, says special adviser Camilla Scharffscher Engeset.
Fear for the children’s safety
Norway must have measures in place to prevent children from being kidnapped, abducted, sold or exploited. The state has promised this, because we have committed ourselves to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
But this summer, a working group concluded that no one has care responsibility for the asylum children who come alone and choose to live privately.
All children who seek asylum in Norway are assigned a representative. It is this person who must ensure that the child’s “needs for care are taken care of in a satisfactory manner”, according to the Immigration Act.
Save the Children has called for an answer from the government on how the municipalities follow up on their responsibilities.
– We discovered that it is not always ensured that the child lives in a safe way, says Camilla Scharffscher Engeset, special adviser at Save the Children.
Camilla Scharffscher Engeset, special advisor at Save the Children.
Photo: Kristine Næss Larsen
She worries about whether the children are safe and receive the follow-up they need and are entitled to.
Both the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Children and Families confirm in a letter to Save the Children that the child welfare services does not has a special responsibility for asylum children who live privately.
– We believe that it must be clearly established that child protection must always investigate the care situation, she says.
2023-12-13 10:39:56
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