Five per cent increase in reports in 1996

Norwegian child welfare authorities received reports about nearly 17,000 children in 1996. This is nearly five per cent more than the year before. Every fourth report in 1996 concerned "neglect/abuse". An almost equally large percentage concerned "behavioural problems of the child". The most common reason given when children were reported to the child welfare authorities was, however, "conditions in the home, special needs". The average time to process a report dropped compared to the year before, and 89 per cent of the reports in 1996 were acted on within one week.

On average the child welfare authorities received 17 reports per 1,000 children under the age of 18 in 1996. There are major differences among the counties. The highest percentages were seen in Nordland, Vestfold and Finnmark, with the first two having 23 and the latter having 21 reports per 1,000 children. The same three counties were also at the top of the list in 1995, although Finnmark accounted for the most reports that year. Telemark, Nord-Trøndelag, Oslo and Østfold are also clearly above the national average. The lowest percentage is found in Sogn og Fjordane and Oppland, with 13 reports per 1,000 children.

Several reasons can be given for seeking help in the reports. In 25 per cent of the reports "Neglect/abuse" was marked as the reason for making a report to the child authorities. An almost equally large percentage, 24 per cent, concerned "behavioural problems of the child". At 43 per cent, "conditions in the home, special needs" was, however, the category most often marked as grounds for contacting the authorities. The category "other" was marked in 30 per cent of the cases. Reasons for contacting the authorities are missing in three per cent of the cases.

New Statistics

Reports to the child welfare authorities, 1996.
Statistics are published annually in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics and the Official Statistics of Norway (NOS) Social Statistics. More information: Trygve Kalve, tel. +47 21 09 46 49, e-mail: tak@ssb.no or Johanna Sørøy, tel. +47 21 09 46 41, e-mail: jsr@ssb.no.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 43, 1997