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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Norway child abuse victims were let down by authorities: investigation

The head of a committee appointed by the Norwegian government agency to investigate historical child abuse cases says that victims of serious abuse were let down by welfare services.

Norway child abuse victims were let down by authorities: investigation
Ann-Kristin Olsen. File photo: Ole Gunnar Onsøien/NTB scanpix

Many cases in which children were subjected to violence, sexual abuse and serious neglect could have been avoided, says the leader of the government-appointed Child Abuse Investigation Committee (Barnevoldsutvalget).

Ann-Kristin Olsen told broadcaster NRK that she believes many children have been failed by authorities.

“We have uncovered a massive failure in the system. But ‘system’ is not a sufficient word, because what we have seen in these cases is that children have been failed,” Olsen said.

Olsen told the broadcaster that the committee had made several discoveries in the 20 cases of violence, sexual abuse and serious neglect it had investigated.

READ ALSO: Norwegian county 'failed to protect 90 percent of children' under its watch

Discoveries made by the committee include instances in which authorities were too slow to uncover problems; diagnoses of conditions such as ADHD being given and treated without sufficient investigation of children’s behaviour; lack of communication with affected children; unreported breaks of the law; complaints from children of violence not being followed up when these were denied by parents; delayed or insufficient help given to children; and lack of serious attention given to parental risk factors such as histories of violence or drug abuse.

Serious warning signs were missed by authorities in several of the cases, according to Olsen.

“Social services were offered to the families, for example in the form of daycare, relief and economic support, but it often took several years to realise that the reason for these children’s problems was the serious violence they were subjected to at home,” she said.

The committee leader told NRK that she was most shocked by how little authorities actually spoke to children.

“The child is the best source for his or her situation. We found that many of the children had been given diagnoses, most commonly ADHD. But nobody asked why the children were behaving as they were, they just treated the diagnosis,” she said.

Olsen added that although she believed Norway’s child protection agencies to be doing a lot of good work, services have been found wanting in some serious cases.

READ ALSO: Child welfare or 'kidnapping'? Parental anguish in Norway

“The picture given by these cases are so bleak and dominated by children not receiving help, getting help too late, insufficient help or being left alone. In cases of severe abuse, the consequences for individual children are profound. Their childhoods – their whole lives, in fact – are destroyed by things a society like ours should be able to manage,” she said.

Changes proposed by Olsen’s committee include regional teams that can assist local authorities with serious cases; and more consultation and communication between different authorities such as schools, psychiatrists and the Child Welfare Services (Barnevernet).

Olsen also wants Barnevernet to be unable to dismiss any case without first speaking to the relevant child or making a home visit, or to justify not having done this. 

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Spain bans visitation rights for gender violence defendants

Parents being prosecuted for gender violence will no longer enjoy visitation rights with children that are not in their custody under a Spanish legal reform that came into force on Friday.

Spain bans visitation rights for gender violence defendants
Photo: Georges Gobiy/AFP

The change affects any parent that is being prosecuted for an assault on the life, physical integrity, freedom, moral or sexual integrity of their partner or their children.

“No regime of visits or overnight stays will be set up, and if one already exists, it will be suspended in the case of a parent who is facing criminal proceedings,” says article 94 of the civil code.

It also applies to cases where a judge has accepted that there are “well-founded indications of domestic or gender-based violence”, it says.

But a judge could still authorise visits or contact “based on the best interests of the minor… following an assessment of the parent-child relationship,” it says.

The change does not affect those who have already been convicted of such offences, whose visitation rights are laid down in their sentence.

The reform was published in the official state bulletin at the start of June just days before police found the body of a six-year-old girl believed murdered by her father, who had snatched her and her baby sister in April.

Investigators believe the father — who had a history of domestic violence — also killed the toddler then committed suicide in a case that shocked Spain.

The six-year-old’s body was found on the seabed, wrapped in a bag weighted down with an anchor, but so far, police have not found any trace of the father and the missing toddler.

Since 2013, 41 minors have been killed by their fathers, or by a partner or ex-partner of their mothers, government statistics show, in a gender violence phenomenon known in Spain as “violence by proxy”.

READ ALSO: How the death of six-year-old Olivia is exposing Spain’s cruellest gender violence

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