About the Lion Mothers

Mother lions, we were called. We were a group of mothers who roared in protest against some of the Solberg government's disastrous changes to the care allowance scheme. Lionesses, because we gritted our teeth, fought for our children and didn't give up until we won through. All parents have probably felt like lions at times, whether they are mothers or fathers. We who are parents of children and young people with illness and functional variation have to put on the lion's mane extra often.

In the wake of the care money campaign's first autumn, the Snapchat channel Løvemammaene was born. Here, 12–14 regular snappers talk about life with seriously ill children. The channel has quickly become very popular, and today has approx. close to 100,000 followers.

One year after the care allowance action was launched, we continued the fight for a fair care allowance scheme. The campaign was so successful that we were mentioned in the book Jakta på makta by Bård Vegar Solhjell and Ketil Raknes: "...the mothers who became lobbyists did most of the right things (...) They had a clear goal and a strategy. They based themselves on facts and knowledge and put their arguments into a societal perspective. They set the agenda in the media and acquired ambassadors." At New Year 2018, Audun Lysbakken named the care money action and Løvemammaene the name of the year.

The success of the care money campaign and the huge interest around the Snapchat channel made us feel good. There were so many more battles to fight for the rights of children and young people with illness and functional variation. We had gained a lot of experience, and we were ready to put the knowledge into a system: On 21 February 2019, we founded the organization Løvemammaene.

During the time we have existed, we have been active in the media, in meetings with politicians and organisations. We have used our strongest influence channel – social media. We have received several breakthroughs in the nursing allowance case, secured the right to retain supplementary benefits for long-term hospital stays, as well as NOK 30 million in earmarked funds for children's palliative care teams throughout the country. We have also put other issues on the agenda, such as BPA for children and the need for health care in BPA, the right to a language and the need to incorporate ASK in the Language Act, we have worked to remove the age limit for companion certificates in all the country's municipalities, and not least we have put the spotlight on the lack of legal security for children and juvenile illness or functional variation in Norway.

We are also lucky to have several resource persons in Løvemammaene, who work specifically and purposefully towards very specific issues that concern us. Our resource persons are committed and knowledgeable members, who are passionate about helping to make society a better place for our children. You can read more about it here the resource persons ours.

In 2021, we started both our children's palliation project Carry together and the Løvemammaenes help service. Carry together assists our members who have children with life-threatening illnesses and/or expected shortened lifespans. Bære together functions both as an ambulatory team for these families, as well as as part of the support service. In addition, they reach out to politicians and the professional community, participate in research projects and hold lectures. Løvemammaene's help service is a very important and indispensable service for our members. It is a service that supports, guides and helps the families with whatever they want and need in meeting with the support system, both applications, complaints, assistance meetings, etc. In 2022 alone, we helped a total of 400 member families. All employees in the help service have both their own experience as lion parents and the necessary professional expertise. You can read more about Løvemammaene's help service here.

During 2022, we founded 4 regional teams: North, Midt, West and South-East. The regional teams create local offers for members, participate in local user committees, as well as get involved and influence interest politics in municipalities and counties in their region. You can read more about it here the regional teams ours here.  

You can get in touch with us at the central board here.

Regards, central board