If it is urgent
Things to keep in mind before you submit a report of concern
When is the right time to submit a report of concern?
If you have concerns about a child’s care situation, you should report your concern to child welfare services. You do not have to be certain that something is wrong.
Most children get help at home
Most children and families who get help from child welfare services, get this help at home. Care orders are only issued in the most severe cases.
It is the responsibility of child welfare services to determine whether the child and their family need help. Your responsibility is to make sure that child welfare services hear about children and youths who may be having problems.
Would you prefer talking to someone first?
If you are not sure if submitting a report is the right thing to do and you need some advice, you can
Can I be anonymous?
What happens after I submit a report?
Your report of concern could potentially help the child and their family get the help they need. Most children and families who get help from child welfare services, get this help at home. Children are not removed from the home except in the most severe cases. Child welfare services in the municipality where the child lives will follow up on your report of concern.
Child welfare services will decide what happens after you submit your report
When you have submitted your report of concern, child welfare services will consider it and decide either to follow up with an investigation, or to drop it. Child welfare services must decide this within one week of receiving your report of concern. Most reports of concern lead to an investigation.
You will receive a confirmation that your report has been received
If you include your address in the report, you will receive a confirmation from child welfare services that they have received your report within three weeks.
Child welfare services may contact you
Child welfare services may contact you for more information.
Help for the family
By investigating, child welfare services determine whether the child and their family need help, and if so, which kind of help the child and their family need. Child welfare services are bound by confidentiality, so you will not receive any information about how child welfare services follow up on the child and their family.
What should I include in the report?
In your report of concern, you should describe what you have seen or heard to make you concerned:
- What happened?
- When did it happen?
- Where did it happen?
- Who was involved?
- Is there anything else that has you concerned?
Think about what you want to include
Please note that the family often gets to see the submitted report.
Examples of report texts
Example 1
Morten (8) is a boy in our neighbourhood. He lives with his parents and five siblings. In the past six months, he has visited us often, as he likes to play with our daughter who is three years younger. I have never seen or heard violence or other serious incidents, but it seems to me his parents are not really there for him, and I am not sure whether he gets the care he needs.
Examples of incidents that have me concerned:
- Morten is outside by himself a lot, almost every night until very late (approx. 11 o’clock).
- He tells me that he looks after his younger brothers (aged three and five) while his parents and older siblings are out. This summer, he also told me that he and his siblings (the oldest is 14) were home alone for almost a week.
- Morten is not allowed to have any children visit, and when my daughter or other children ring the doorbell, the parents ask them to leave. I have never seen him with friends from school or other children his own age.
- Morten tells me he changed schools this autumn, because his parents did not like the teachers at his old school.
- I have tried to strike up a conversation with the parents several times, but they don’t say very much and don’t seem to be interested in getting better acquainted.
Example 2
A family in our building have a son we are concerned about. Everyone can hear that the boy and his father argue a lot. Two weeks ago, there was a fire in one of the garages, and it turned out this boy had started it. The matter was reported to the police, but it does not seem as if they’ve done anything yet. We are very concerned about the boy, and we are concerned that his father may be hurting him. We are also afraid he will start more fires. We don’t know the boy’s name, but he lives at Strandgata no. 12, on the second floor, and he is between 14 and 18 years old. He has an older brother named Lars.