Bergen city councilor Roger Valhammer provided information on Tuesday about the child protection case in the city and apologized to children who were not caught by the child protection service.
Updated only now
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The case is up to date.
Bergen’s chief of child protection, Alette Hilton Knudsen, announced her resignation Monday.
It’s happening after the state administrator in Vestland discovered serious shortcomings in the child protection agency’s follow-up to a boy who was found seriously injured, tied to a bed in August.
– A seven-year-old boy could have been saved earlier. The child could have been protected earlier. And we shouldn’t do that in Bergen, city council leader Roger Valhammer said when he briefed on the matter on Tuesday.
It’s not just a report, a detour, an inspection, he continued:
– This is a seven-year-old boy who was tied up by his father, a violent father. These are two brothers who fell among all the chairs that no one caught, who never went to school, never went to the dentist. It is about the fact that if childcare services had followed up as they should, these children could have received help sooner.
– And mistakes like that shouldn’t happen, but they did, Valhammer said.
Promote no-confidence motions
On Tuesday, it became clear that Bergen SV filed a no-confidence motion against social councilor Katrine Nødtvedt (MDG) after harsh criticism of the child protection service recently.
– At a number of crucial points in very serious cases of child abuse and neglect, the municipality of Bergen had the opportunity to prevent children from suffering and being harmed. The municipality has failed in this duty, and the political responsibility for this rests with the professional council on the ground, SV writes in a press release.
– For this reason, the Bergen SV city council group no longer has faith in the child welfare council, and therefore we will file a no-confidence motion against city councilor Katrine Nødtvedt at the next city council meeting, says the group leader by SV Mikkel Grüner.
The head of child protection has resigned
Bergen’s chief of child protection, Alette Hilton Knudsen, announced her resignation Monday. Bergens Tidende writes that it is happening in the wake of sharp criticism of the child protection service, after the state administrator in Vestland discovered serious shortcomings in the follow-up of the child protection service of a boy who he was found seriously injured, tied to a bed.
On Tuesday, city council leader Roger Valhammer will brief the matter.
– This statement is for the group leaders in Bergen, Valhammer said:
– But as this is streaming, I want to say something on behalf of the Bergen municipality to the children concerned. On behalf of the municipality of Bergen, I am deeply sorry. You should have seen this first. You should have been caught sooner and someone should have helped you a long time ago. I promise you that we will do everything possible so that no child can experience what you have done.
The Conservative Party is also assessing the distrust of child welfare adviser Katrine Nødtvedt.
Charlotte Spurkeland, a member of the Bergen Høyre city council, tells Bergens Tidende.
The case is up to date.
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