Round table Prague

On November 25^th, 2014 an expert round table took place at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MoSLA). Norwegian experts on the system of the protection of children and employees of Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs (BufDir), which is the project partner, took part in the round table.

The Norwegian experts gave presentations on the topic of the system of services for vulnerable children and families in Norway, providing of a quality system of care for vulnerable children and families, setting the age limit for not placing children into institutional care, aftercare for young people leaving various forms of care and other. The part of the round table was also a discussion about these topics and gaining inspiration for further work on the preparation of the objective of the Act “On the protection of the rights of children, support for families and foster care” that MoLSA has been working on.

In the first part of the round table Jan Faller presented his contribution “Organization and Management of the System of Care for Children and Families At Risk in Norway, Quality of the System”, then Karen Margrethe Grenstad introduced “Support System for Children and Families – Services, Benefits, Social housing.”

In the second part following topics were presented: “The System of Preparation and Selection of Foster Parents in Norway” (including the question of and experience with setting the age limit when a child younger 12 years cannot be placed into institutional care) by Elizabeth Backe –Hansen and “What the Current Research Tells Us About the Effectiveness of Foster Care” by Vigdis Bunkholdt.

The last part was devoted to following topics: “Evaluation of the Implementation of the Best Interests of the Child, Legislation and Other Implementation Regulations and Directives for Participants of the System of Care” by Karen Hassel, “Leaving Care in Norway”(legislation, support system and good practice in Norway) by Jan Storo and “Children´s Participation: Norwegian experience and practice” by Tor Slettebo.

As a part of the expert meeting, the participants took a guided tour of Children´s Center until 3 years of age at Thomayer Hospital in Prague –Krč and Home for People with Disabilities in Zbůch on November 26^th, 2014.