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It’s not just about closed kindergartens and schools. Norwegian children and youth have been reunited since Norway closed on March 12. Recommendations for using a home office have also affected other services, such as child health centers, school health services, and youth health centers.
Outpatient psychiatric outpatient clinics for children and adolescents have up to 83% fewer consultations after the crown outbreak, while school health nurses have been used for coronary measures rather than follow-up on youth.
These are just two examples from the government’s coordination group for the provision of vulnerable children and adolescents during the Covid-19 epidemic, cited in a report published last week.
“Almost all services have initiated infection prevention measures that are significantly stricter than the advice of the Institute of Public Health,” the coordination group writes in its conclusion.
– troublesome and unfortunate
The government coordination group has produced a new report in which they propose additional measures that affect children and young people. But it is devoid of publicity, something to which child advocate Inga Bejer Engh reacts strongly.
– I am considering submitting a request for access in the report of the government coordination group where they propose how to stop the negative consequences of the crown measures. I think it is problematic that we should not read the report before the government presents its assessment, “Bejer Engh tells Dagbladet.
Bejer Engh believes that she and the rest of the public should have access to the report at this time, so that there can be an informed debate on measures affecting thousands of vulnerable children and youth.
Children and Family Minister Kjell Ingolf Ropstad (KrF) has announced that the government will propose on Thursday a package of measures for vulnerable children and youth. But unless the Ombudsman realizes it, neither she nor the rest of the public will know the basis of the decisions, until they are made.
Ropstad criticizes the municipalities
– My job is to monitor the authorities’ compliance with the rights of the child under the Children’s Convention and the Constitution. It gets heavier when I can’t read the report in advance. This is a question of such far-reaching measures that it is important to have open academic discussions about additional measures, says child advocate Inga Bejer Engh.
Children and Family Minister Kjell Ingolf Ropstad emphasizes that it is the government that has established the coordination group to gain more insight into how the crown crisis affects vulnerable children and youth.
– We received the second report of the coordination group for the offer to vulnerable children and young people just before the weekend. The ministry is now doing a professional review of the report and anchoring it along with the other ministries before it is published, says Ropstad, who understands the children’s ombudsman is impatient.
– Abuse public law
FRP leader Siv Jensen came out on VG on Tuesday, criticizing the government for the lack of transparency during the crown crisis.
– All Parliament and the country participate in this day. So we cannot make the government sit on any report and publish the reports that they see fit to publish, the FRP leader tells VG.
Tron Strand, head of the press’s public relations committee, believes the government has abused Public Law during the crisis.
– The government is abusing Public Law to exempt the public much more than necessary in this situation. The documents are defined as internal or may even threaten the richest security if they are published, says Strand, who believes it is particularly important that the debate can come before the government takes action.
– No less important because the government has received broad powers to impose laws and regulations that are very intrusive to the population. No less important in the case of vulnerable groups, which have experienced a decrease in the supply of services and restrictions. In such a situation, the government should be served with the most open debate possible, Strand says.
Ropstad towards the municipalities
When it comes to the critical overhaul of the government’s coordinating group on vulnerable children and youth services during the crown crisis, Ropstad criticizes municipalities for taking strict action.
– We know that children and young people have not had access to services that are important to them, in part because municipalities have introduced more stringent infection prevention measures than recommended. I think it is unfortunate. That is why I have urged municipalities to prioritize children and youth, Ropstad tells Dagbladet.
Children’s Ombudsman Bejer Engh believes the report that came in last week confirms the concerns he has had for several weeks. Now he urges both the government and the municipalities not to point each other out.
– My main message is that the government and the municipalities do not blame each other, but within their respective areas of responsibility they do what they can to guarantee the health services and the right to education of children and young people, that their Rights are not violated to a greater extent than necessary, says the ombudsman for children.
– It is a paradox that for several weeks he says that he is very concerned about vulnerable groups among children, which is why at the same time he has chosen to close or greatly reduce the services that should be the first line for vulnerable children. After all, health nurses are not unemployed even though children have homeschooling, they become very important. That this service be transferred to crown measures, I hope it will be addressed immediately, says Bejer Eng.
Ap: – Take self-criticism
Ap health policy spokeswoman Ingvild Kjerkol asks Ropstad to take responsibility for the overreaction in the municipalities and not blame the others.
– Ropstad, Bent Høie (H) and the rest of the government should be so fair that they criticize themselves about this and do not blackmail the municipalities of the country. It is simply unfair to blame municipalities that have done what the government has asked them to do, says a powerfully provoked Kjerkol.
The government opened after Easter hairdressers and other companies with personal contacts as long as they meet the requirements for infection control measures. On Wednesday it also opens the bars, as long as they follow the measures to prevent infection.
– Prioritize children and youth
At the same time, Ropstad calls on those working against vulnerable children and youth to leave office life at home and return to the office.
– The community must reopen over time and be controlled. This is in line with the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO). On the government side, we prioritize the most important things first. Children and youth first, then business, says Ropstad, who describes the Labor Party’s criticism as “strange.”
Kjerkol believes that the ultimate responsibility rests with the Minister for Children and Family Ropstad.
– We do not need the Ropstad disclaimer now, it is profoundly unfair to service professionals and municipalities in an incredibly demanding situation with a lack of personnel, infection control equipment and testing capacity. That municipalities have not received enough help and support along the way is itself critical, unless they have to be held accountable for the consequences of government decisions, Kjerkol says.
Do you want to argue?
