Family counselling service, 2005

The family counselling offices dealt with 29 275 cases in 2005, a small increase from previous years. The national child welfare and family counselling service spent approximately NOK 256 million on family counselling in 2004, or NOK 8 800 per case. There are some differences between regions. For instance, Region South spent approximately NOK 7 800 per case and Region West slightly more than NOK 10 000.

Couple related issues main reason for enquiry

In more than half of the cases dealt with in 2005, the primary client reported that couple related issues were the main reason for the enquiry. This corresponds well with the figure showing that couple counselling was the main measure taken in the 23 000 cases that were closed in 2005.

For most of the 22 200 new cases in 2005, the first session was held within a month after the primary client contacted the family counselling service. The average treatment time after the first session was 116 days for the cases that were closed in 2005. This is a decrease of three days from 2004.

Mediation

The family counselling offices are the core unit in the Norwegian mediation service, and mediation is a major task in the family counselling service. In 2005, the family counselling offices carried out 8200 mediations, 60 per cent of all mediations accomplished in Norway in 2005. External mediators conducted the other 40 per cent. In total, 13 500 mediations were carried out in 2005, a decrease of 3 per cent from 14 000 in the previous year.

For almost 36 per cent of the mediations carried out by external mediators, the first meeting was held within one week. This compares with 7 per cent of mediations at family counselling offices. In 40 per cent of the mediations at family counselling offices, the time from application to first meeting exceeded three weeks. In 2005, mediation certificates were issued in about 93 per cent of the mediations, and the majority was issued after one or two sessions.

Employment

In 2005, the number of man-years in the family counselling service was 409, a small decrease from 2004. A comparison of the number of family counselling positions and inhabitants per county, shows that Region North had slightly more than 1.4 positions per 10 000 inhabitants, whereas Region West had 0.7 positions per 10 000 inhabitants.

Tables:

• Table 1 Family counselling services, new cases, by reason for inquiry, region, county and office. 2005
• Table 2 Family counselling services, new cases by period of waiting, region, county and office. 2005
• Table 3 Family counselling services, closed cases, by duration, region, county and office. 2005
• Table 4 Family counselling services, counselling sessions, by region, county and office. 2005
• Table 5 Family counselling services, by status per 31 December 2005, region, county and office. 2005
• Table 6 Family counselling services, by main actions in the counselling, region, county and office. 2005
• Table 7 Family counselling services, by man-hours spent on counselling sessions, region, county and office. 2005.
• Table 8 Number of meditations, by mediation authority and county. 2005
• Table 9 Time from mediation application to first session, by county. 2005
• Table 10 Time from mediation application to mediation certificate given, by county. 2005
• Table 11 Mediation with certificate, by sessions and county. 2005
• Table 12 Key figures national family counselling service. Figures for 2004 and 2005
• Table 13 Figures national family counselling service. Figures for 2005
• Table 14 Mediations. Figures for 2005