Young people are admitted to a nursing home against their will: demand a ban – VG

– Enough is enough. Now there must be an end for children and young people who are installed in institutions for the elderly, says Storting politician Kari Kjønaas Kjos (Frp).

Earlier this fall, he took the initiative to ban the plan. He obtained a majority in the Storting to ask the government to promote an amendment to the law that establishes that no municipality can seat people between 0 and 50 years old, in nursing homes against their will.

For more than 20 years, politicians have vowed to end the placement of children and youth in institutions for the elderly. Two years ago, a unanimous Storting decided that children should not be placed in a nursing home contrary to the wishes of the family and the best interests of the child. This fall, the Storting decided that young adults between the ages of 18 and 50 should also not live in nursing homes against their will.

However, the practice continues.

Nine children under the age of 18 and 94 people between 18 and 49 currently live in an institution for the elderly, according to figures from the Norwegian Health Directorate.

While three of the minors wanted to move, 24 of the youth and adults wanted another home.

When she was 28 years old, Terje Sørlie Skaug was placed in a nursing home against her will. Read their story its.

It’s not about money

– Nursing homes for young people should be banned, Kjos believes.

And it is urgent.

– A legal ban is needed for municipalities to stop this practice, he says.

For 20 years she has been involved in this issue.

– I have seen how young people with special care needs are followed differently, depending on the municipality in which they live. And I have seen that when municipalities place children and young people in nursing homes, it is due to lack of will or competence, Kjos tells VG.

– I remember the screaming. Dementia howling and screaming. And the silence when it was time to rest, says the disabled Anita Elisabeth Bjørklund (28) to VG.
At the age of 21, she was placed in the Bråset care and housing center in Asker.
– I did not think that it could happen in Norway, that the municipality of origin could forcibly place you in an institution for the elderly. They said it was only for a couple of days, but the days went by and I thought I was going crazy.

Anita-Elisabeth experienced her stay as lonely and insecure.
– The worst, however, was being deprived of the freedom to decide on one’s own life.

This winter, Anita-Elisabeth had to return to the nursing home. After five years of 24-hour user-controlled personal assistance (BPA) in her own apartment, a plan that Anita-Elisabeth herself thought was working very well, the municipality has decided that the plan will be terminated.

Anita-Elisabeth has complained and, pending the county governor’s decision, she was placed back in a nursing home for a period this winter. The county governor has now given his final rejection of the BPA.

– Now I am terrified that the municipality will send me back to the nursing home, for lack of other solutions.

The municipality of Asker declares that it does not want to assign young people long-term places in nursing homes. About Anita-Elisabeth’s stay at Bråset Residential and Care Center, the municipality writes this in an email to VG:

In the first period, this resident in question was offered a training stay at the Bråset rehabilitation department, which is the 24-hour rehabilitation offer of the municipality of Asker. An apartment that only offers short stays.

Anita-Elisabeth’s stay in a nursing home this winter came as a temporary fix after the foreman in the assistant scheme resigned from work that day, according to the municipality.

– As long as a resident needs services, the municipality will continually assess user needs, content and form of service and ensure that it is delivered responsibly, writes Anne Cathrine Garder, business manager for the Welfare Administration.

Anita-Elisabeth disagrees with the municipality that the time in a nursing home was a rehabilitation stay. Now she, along with lawyer Helge Hjort, has asked the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision to reverse the decision to withdraw her assistant plan.

– The right to free and independent life

People who need a lot of help living at home use the “Resource Intensive Users” scheme. This is where the state comes in and covers large amounts, Kjos notes.

– A place in a nursing home costs about a million a year, so finances are not the biggest problem. Obviously, it’s easy to move people to a nursing home, where everything is ready, organized, and has knowledgeable and experienced employees, she says.

For many young people with a functional challenge, it is an additional burden to be placed in institutions with older people with dementia and without the opportunity to spend time with their peers, says SV health politician at the Storting Nicholas Wilkinson.

– Young people who are seriously ill or disabled should also have the right to a free and independent life. Now municipalities must stop placing young people in nursing homes without their own wishes, he says.

VG today tells the story of Terje Sørlie (38) who had to live in a nursing home for eight years against her will. Earlier this fall, VG wrote about the terminally ill Isabella (2) who lives in a nursing home in Hustadvika, against her parents’ wishes.

– Children should not live in nursing homes, then the Minister of Health and Care Services, Bent Høie (H) told VG.

– I am glad that there is broad agreement that we will now implement a legal regulation, the Minister of Health now writes in an email to VG.

– Health services must, as far as possible, attend to the child and the needs and wishes of the family, but at the same time they must ensure that the services provided are robust. This can be a demanding balancing act, Høie writes to VG.

FRP Storting politician Kjos says there have always been loopholes in Storting decisions causing municipalities to continue the practice.

– Therefore, a ban is the only solution, says Kjos.

It may take time

However, it does not happen if the Storting’s decision ends with the ban on placing children and young people in nursing homes.

First, the Ministry of Health and Care Services must prepare a bill, which in turn must be sent to the Storting for a decision.

– No deadline has been set and there are no resources to follow up on the Storting’s decision, said Wilkinson (SV).

In other words, it can take time. He is now working to ensure the bill is completed by September 2021.

But getting good help at home costs money.

– Therefore, SV now proposes that 600 million crowns be allocated in the state budget for those who need health services and want to live at home to get it, says Wilkinson.

Høie says he will follow up on the Storting’s application decision as soon as possible.

– The consequences for municipalities must be investigated before the proposal is sent for ordinary consultation and considered in the Storting, he writes.