Communicating with Children and Youth

The Ombudsman for Children is more than a public figure with statutory powers. The office aspires to strengthen its partnership with children and youth, continuing to improve various conditions affecting all children in Norway.

To stay in touch with children and youth the Ombudsman employs several communication tools. These are considered to be a vital source of information about Norwegian childhood. Here are some examples:

"Straight Talk"
Some children write letters or email the Ombudsman for Children for advice or to express their opinion about a certain matter, and a few call the Ombudsman office. However, most children and youth use the Children's hotline on the Ombudsman's homepage, "Straight Talk". This has been the most important tool for the Ombudsman in communicating with children and young people. By writing to the Ombudsman via the webpage "Straight Talk", children can express their opinion, views and ask questions about their rights or receive advice. The question and answer are published anonymously on the Ombudsman's web page. The majority of the requests are about either family issues, such as problems related to parents, health issues or issues related to school. Since the children are anonymous, the Ombudsman does not have the possibility to interfere, and must limit its involvement to giving general advice, while referring the child concerned to the relevant services.

The Ombudsman's Youth Council
The Ombudsman's Youth Council was launched during the fall of 2005. The Ombudsman wanted to establish a dialogue with young people on issues that are of the Ombudsman's concern, and it was decided that a youth council would be established consisting of young people from various schools in the Oslo-region. The meetings have among other things resulted in letters to and meetings with the Minister of Health and the Minister of Education.

"Speak Your Mind!" Campaign
The Ombudsman wanted opinions from young people on what they find important. Launched in conjunction with a large dairy product company in Norway, article 12 of the Convention was printed on milk cartons, and children were encouraged to send a message to the prime Minister via the Ombudsman. This resulted in approximately 1000 postcards with messages regarding wishes, worries and joys that children in Norway wanted to share with Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. Postcards were printed in a book and presented to the Prime Minister.

Using Children as experts
The Ombudsman believes that children with different experiences have valuable information for the policy makers and adults in general. When the Ombudsman travels, he often meets with children with experience relevant to the theme of the visit. If he is going to talk on a conference about psychological health care, he will try to meet local children that have been in contact with the health service prior to the conference. This gives him the possibility to forward opinion from the youth to the decision makers.

The Ombudsman has also established groups of children who have particular experience, such as children that have experienced domestic violence. These are called "expert groups", because the children themselves are the experts. The "expert group" on violence has met several times since it was established in 2006, and the Ombudsman has among other things arranged a meeting between the group and the National Police Commissioner.