The Family Welfare Office

Familievernet is a national service for anyone experiencing difficulties, conflicts or crises in the family can make use of. Family welfare offices are found all over the country and are required by law to offer treatment, counseling and mediation.

The lion mothers know from experience that the relationship between parents and children with illness and/or functional variation can be a challenge. Contributing reasons may be too little help from the municipality, many hospitalizations, a lot of emergency preparedness and far too little time to just be lovers. There is generally very little help available as a parent of a child with illness and/or functional variation. We are often forgotten in the support system and far too much responsibility is placed on our shoulders. The time left in the day is therefore often spent on tasks that have not been completed during the day. Then it is perhaps not so surprising that for some conditions the load and wear and tear becomes far too great.

We recommend contacting the family welfare office as soon as possible.

Asking for help is nothing to be ashamed of. After all, our children need their parents as the best version of themselves - whether together, separately, or together with someone new. Here, the family welfare office can be of great help on the journey.

What does the family welfare office do?

The purpose of the family protection office is to help, support, find solutions and establish a functioning collaboration between the parties. The family welfare offices have a high level of expertise in helping parents to cooperate better, as children need their parents to be able to cooperate as well as possible. Familievernet recommends getting in touch if you start to struggle, in order to get the help you need as quickly as possible. There must therefore not have been a crisis in order to get an offer from the family welfare office.

You can freely choose which family welfare office you wish to use. It may be that some family protection offices, e.g. has special offers that suit you and your situation better than others have. At the family welfare offices, there are, among other things, psychologists and social workers with further training in family therapy.

How to get guidance and help from the family welfare office?

You do not need a referral from a doctor to make use of the offer
You contact the family welfare office yourself to make an appointment
The offer is completely free
The family welfare office has a duty of confidentiality
Families with children living at home are given priority

Familievernet also offers courses and conversation groups, e.g. for parents of children with disabilities, couples who have recently had children and parenting courses for couples who have separated. There are also conversation groups for children who have experienced a break-up between their parents.

See full overview above courses and group guidance on Bufdir's website.

Here is a list of which family protection offices can be found around Norway:
Bufdir - find the family welfare office

Mediation in case of break-up

All parents with joint children under the age of 16 who are going through a break-up and separation must attend mediation at a family welfare office. Also, parents who have been separated over time and cannot agree on parental responsibility, permanent residence and visitation, or are considering bringing the case to court, must first attend mediation in order to obtain a mediation certificate.

You can also have mediation with an external mediator, you can find a list of approved mediators here.

You can get up to seven mediation hours, where the first hour is compulsory.

Parents are responsible for finding good residential solutions and a safe, predictable environment for their children. The aim of mediation is to create a written parental cooperation agreement (visitation agreement). At the mediation session, you also get advice and guidance, and help to handle any conflicts.

The parental cooperation agreement is a private agreement between the parents and it contains, among other things,

Parental responsibility
Permanent residence
Togetherness

Before attending the mediation session, it is good if you have familiarized yourself with what these terms mean. You can choose to have either permanent residence with both parents (= shared permanent residence) or permanent residence with one and with visitation with the other. Permanent residence is not about how much time the child will have with each parent, but about which decisions parents can make on behalf of the child.

Place of residence, contact and time distribution

Children can only have permanent residence with parents who have parental responsibility.

It is agreed that the child will have either

permanent residence for both (shared permanent residence), or
permanent residence with one and contact with the other

This is decided by you/those with whom the child has permanent residence

If the child has shared permanent residence, you must decide this together. If the child has permanent residence with one of the parents, this parent can make these decisions alone.

moving domestically
kindergarten
SFO/AKS
leisure activities

You decide this yourself when the child is with you

You can make these decisions alone when the child is with you, regardless of whether the child has permanent residence with you or visitation with you.

food
clothing
bedtime
friends
homework
supervision
care

The agreement on permanent residence and contact also has some financial implications, such as

Child support (NAV - child support)
Child benefit (NAV - child benefit)
Benefits for single dependents (NAV - benefits for single breadwinners)

Read more about the financial implications here.

You can also choose to create a parental cooperation agreement yourself by downloading the agreement that the family protection office uses, or by logging in via the ID portal at bufdir.no: Create a parent cooperation agreement.

When the mandatory mediation class has been completed, both parents receive a mediation certificate that is valid for six months. The certificate only documents that the mandatory mediation session has been completed.

The mediation certificate is required for

Spouses who are to apply for separation
Cohabitants who move apart and are to apply for extended child benefit
Parents who wish to bring a case about parental responsibility, permanent residence or visitation before the court

Note that the mediation certificate is valid for 6 months.

Can children take part in mediation?

Children of compulsory school age, or younger children who are mature enough, can participate in the mediation if the child himself wishes to do so and both parents agree. You can ask your family welfare office whether the child should be included or not. The mediators have a lot of experience in including children in mediation, and a mediator who has met the child can be better placed to help the family with good solutions.

The mediator can talk both with the child alone and with the whole family together.

Children have a statutory right to be heard in matters that concern them. It is important that parents listen to the child's wishes and needs before parents make decisions about e.g. where the child will live.

NB! The child has the right to be heard, but not the obligation to speak.

What should the child know before mediation?

When parents are going to move apart, they have to go to mediation to talk about where the children will live and other practical things.
Children who participate in mediation can say in their own words what is important to them so that the mediator can give the parents good advice.
Children can choose for themselves whether they want to talk to the mediator alone or together with their parents and what they want to talk to the mediator about.

Source
Bufdir – Family and cohabitation