Additional child-related expertise at asylum reception centres

‘Displaced children are a particularly vulnerable group, and it is important to us that children who arrive in Norway are welcomed in a reassuring and good way which protects their rights and needs. These extra funds will allow reception centres to employ more people with child-related expertise, and will ensure that the children in reception centres are closely followed up,’ says Minister of Justice and Public Security Emilie Enger Mehl.

The number of children in asylum reception centres is extraordinarily high at present, and most of the displaced Ukrainian children who are arriving only have one parent with them. It is very important that the children and their parents receive good care. Reception centres for unaccompanied minor asylum seekers already have extra staff with child-related expertise, but this type of resource has not generally been available at ordinary reception centres. The funding will permit the establishment of positions for people with child-related expertise at all types of asylum reception centres that have children staying there in 2022.

More than one-third of displaced Ukrainian arrivals in Norway are children. Most of them have arrived with only one parent. The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration is responsible for running and supervising the asylum reception centres, and will ensure that funds for child-related expertise are channelled where they are most needed at reception centres throughout the country.