Children’s institutions, 2000

In institutions for parents and children (maternity homes), which were the least expensive, a place cost NOK 524,000. By comparison, the price in the children's and youth's homes, where about half of the places are located, came to NOK 991,000 per year on average. The places in living/working collectives and in acute ward institutions, which are most expensive, cost an average of NOK 1239,000 and NOK 1166,000 per year respectively.

Six out of ten are public

The public sector owns and operates almost six out of ten children's institutions, i.e. 57 per cent. The county municipalities are responsible for the vast majority of these institutions (91 per cent). Private organisations and foundations own the rest of the institutions.

183 institutions

In 2000 a total of 183 childrens institutions were registered with a total of 1,724 places. The distribution was as follows: 21 children's homes, 66 youth's homes, 20 combined children's and youth's homes, 14 institutions for parents and children (maternity homes), 11 living/working collectives, 29 acute ward institutions and 22 other institutions. About five out of ten childrens institutions (54 per cent) are currently either children's and youth's institutions, i.e. institutions that offer residence to children and youths who need it. Many of these institutions have some acute places in addition to places for long-term child welfare placements.

Oslo has the best degree of coverage

One measure of the degree of coverage is to look at the number of places in relation to the number of children under 18 years of age in each county. The places in each individual institution are distributed among the counties that made the places available on a given date when they were counted.

For the country as a whole, the degree of coverage in 2000 was 16 places per 10,000 children under the age of 18, compared with 15 places in 1999. Oslo still tops the list with 32 places per 10,000 children. Østfold county and Finnmark county are in second place with 22 places, followed by Sør-Trøndelag county and Akershus county, both with 19 places per 10,000 children. Sogn og Fjordane and Oppland counties still had the lowest coverage with six and seven places per 10,000 children respectively.

3,379 man-years

A total of 3,379 man-years were worked at the 183 institutions in 2000, compared with 3,196 man-years at 177 institutions in 1999. This is 2.0 man-years per place, compared with 2.1 in the previous year. Residential child care workers are still the largest group of professionals with 26 per cent of all man-years in 2000, compared with 27 per cent in the previous year. Unskilled workers are still a large group, currently numbering 28 per cent of all employees, compared with 26 per cent in the previous year.

Operating expenses of NOK 1.6 billion

Of the 183 institutions that were in use in 2000 we lack economic information from seven. Thus, the calculation of costs per place is based on only 176 institutions with 1,672 places. The gross operating expenses for these were more than NOK 1.6 billion.

Tables:

• Table 1 Number of beds in children's institutions, by type of institution and by county. Per 15 January 2001
• Table 2 Residents in children's institutions, by type of institution, sex and age. Per 15 January 2001
• Table 3 Residents in children's institutions, by type of institution and duration of the stay. Per 15 January 2001
• Table 4 Man-years in children's institutions, by type of institution and occupation. Per 15 January 2001
• Table 5 Gross expenditure for children's institutions, by type of institution, ownership and county. 2000. 1 000 kroner