Hearing in the justice committee

Today, the chairman of Løvemammaene, Bettina Lindgren, attended an oral hearing in the justice committee regarding the state budget 2025. There she spoke primarily about the legal security of lion families.

Below you can read the oral input, and the written input we submitted to the Justice Committee in connection with the hearing.

Children who previously did not survive are rescued today in droves. They are issued by the hospitals to municipalities which are often not equipped to receive them. Every single day, many families with seriously ill children have far too little help. The Løvemammaenen's consistent experience is that far too many families do not get to fulfill their rights to a livable everyday life. There is a lack of relief, decisions are flawed or insufficient, many receive incorrect rejections, while some have good decisions on paper that are not fulfilled in practice. Legal certainty is also about these families. A good welfare system is of little help when the rights do not reach the families. The legal security of children and young people with illnesses and disabilities, and their families, is perceived as virtually non-existent. 

The way the complaints system is set up, and with the State Administrator's lack of authority, it does not reflect the exercise of power that several families with particularly burdensome care work may be exposed to. The families are at the mercy of help from the public in order to have a livable life. When the municipality does not take care of its duties and fails grossly, the State Administrator lacks real authority to step down. In any case, such possible authority is not practiced. There is a need to further strengthen the budget items for the state administrators in order to reduce the processing time and improve legal certainty for citizens.  

State administrators in Østfold, Buskerud, Oslo and Akershus have for some time had a processing time of 6-9 months. Before that, for many, the same length of complaint processing time with the municipality has passed. What legal security does this provide? There is a need for clear deadlines in the Public Administration Act and with options for sanctions if the law is broken. Only the complainants, i.e. the families, now have absolute deadlines in the Administration Act. As short as 3-4 weeks. Parents lose their right to appeal if they do not lodge an appeal within the deadline. These are deadlines that are strictly enforced by the same municipalities that spend many months responding to complaints. For the public sector, however, the situation is completely different. 

In the Administration Act § 11 a. on case processing time and preliminary answers, it is stated: 

"The administrative body must prepare and decide the case without undue delay." 

This does not apply to families of children who are no longer here next Halloween. Institutions that handle cases are constantly finding reasons for delays. The most common justification is a lack of resources and understaffed units. Meanwhile, children die in the queue. However, the children and their families have no other choice but to just stand by. Storting politicians, on the other hand, you can choose. You can choose to take this seriously and make the necessary changes to the law. 

Hearing input for prop. 1 S (2024-2025) from Løvemammaene

Løvemammaene is a diagnosis-independent organization that works to inform about and improve the rights of children and young people with illness and functional variation. The lion mothers are passionate about support, freedom and equality for the whole family. The organization has over 7,500 members as of October 2024. In 2021, we established the Løvemammaenes help service in the small. This is a project operated with, among others, grant from Stiftelsen DAM, and which is approved as a special legal aid measure by the Supervisory Board for Legal Services in Norway. Løvemammaene's help service supports, guides and helps member families in meeting with the aid apparatus, both through mapping of rights, applications, complaints, assistance in meetings with agencies, etc. Everyone who works in the help service has personal experience of having a child who needs help, while also having relevant education and professional expertise.

Legal certainty

Children who previously did not survive are saved today. They are issued by the hospitals to municipalities which are often not equipped to receive them. Every single day, many families with seriously ill children have far too little help. Parents never stop doing what they can for their sick child and all too often too much is expected from the municipality, which is actually supposed to provide proper services. The Løvemammaenes experience that families do not get to fulfill their rights to a livable everyday life. Legal certainty is also about these families.

We refer to our entire notification letter about the lack of legal certainty that was previously sent to the committee's members.

State administrators

There is a need to further strengthen the budget items for the state administrators in order to reduce the processing time and improve legal certainty for citizens.

There is a need for much clearer guidelines and clearer legislation regarding the handling of complaints, both at the municipalities and the state administrators.

We remind you of the National Audit Office's "Examination of health and care services for children with disabilities”. Document 3:15 (2020–2021). They conclude that:

• There are large differences and insufficient capacity in the health institutions' habilitation services for children.
• There are large variations between the municipalities in the use of relief.
• The state administrators' handling of the complaints has a great impact on the services the families receive.
• The families must take a great deal of responsibility themselves for getting help and coordinating the services.

"The National Audit Office considers it serious that the services for families with children who have disabilities depend on where they live, and that the parents themselves have to do a lot to get the help they need. The allocation of services to children with disabilities varies widely between municipalities. The municipalities' allocation is also affected by the fact that there are large differences in the habilitation offer between the health regions, both in terms of investigation and diagnosis, and the guidance provided by the municipalities. Furthermore, the municipal variations are connected to the fact that the state administrators have different practices in handling parents' complaints about the municipalities' decisions."

There is a need for clearer authority on the part of the State Administrator.

The legal certainty as the appeals system is set up, and with the State Administrator's lack of authority, does not reflect the exercise of power to which several families with burdensome care work may be exposed. The families are at the mercy of help from the public in order to have a livable life. When the municipality does not take care of its duties and fails grossly, the State Administrator lacks real authority to step down.

The Administrative Act

In the Administration Act § 11 a. on case processing time and preliminary answers, it is stated:

"The administrative body must prepare and decide the case without undue delay."

Institutions that handle cases constantly find reasons for delays. The most common justification is a lack of resources and understaffed units. There is a need for clear deadlines in the Public Administration Act and with options for sanctions if the law is broken. It will require more employees to meet deadlines, and this obviously has a significant cost. But as it is now, the consequences are only borne by families who are already on their knees. Only the complainants, i.e. the families, now have absolute deadlines in the Public Administration Act. They lose their right to appeal if they do not lodge an appeal within the deadline, which is often as short as 2-4 weeks. These are deadlines that are strictly enforced by the same bodies that take several months (in many cases years) to respond to applications and complaints. Every single day in the appeals queue is a day families with seriously ill children have to live with without justification and with a reduced quality of life.

With best regards
The lion mothers