My name is Ida Åsesdatter Isaksen. In 2017, I created the Facebook group Folket vs Barnevernet. I have now been elected chair of the organisation, and I am grateful for that trust.

My commitment is rooted in many years of experience with child welfare services and legal safeguards — and, above all, in my own struggle as a mother.

Child welfare services took my daughter into care five times. Each time, we lost before the County Social Welfare Board and won in the District Court. My daughter was passed back and forth through the system. As her mother, I had no choice but to fight.

I have shared our story and the case documentation publicly. Tromsø Child Welfare Services repeatedly reported me to the police, and I was convicted by the Supreme Court for publishing a video in which my daughter cried and begged to come home.

I felt that the duty of confidentiality made it difficult to bring our side of the case to light. For me, openness became essential. I refused to be intimidated into silence.

After winning the case to bring my daughter home, I decided to continue the group. Our struggle had shown me how important it is to have someone who listens, understands and dares to ask questions.

To everyone who has contacted me over the years, my advice has remained the same: Know your own case. Read the documents, ask questions and keep demanding answers. Your child's future is at stake.

I care deeply about children's voices. We need services that protect children and a support system that sees the whole family. Many people need support for shorter or longer periods. That support must be built on community, cooperation and an understanding of the family's circumstances.

I previously worked as a marketing manager in insurance and in radio marketing and advertising. I am a certified life coach and have served as an alternate member of Tromsø City Council.

Leading the organisation will be a new experience for me. I take on the role with a strong commitment and a willingness to work for systemic change — together with the board, our members and everyone who wants stronger legal safeguards for children and families.

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My name is Mika Leppänen, and I have been entrusted with the role of deputy chair. As you may guess from my name, I am Finnish. I have lived in Norway since 1998.

I am 58 years young and love sailing and boating. At the same time, I feel strongly about the harm child welfare services cause to many children, young people and adults.

My own case has been ongoing since 2012. There have been four court cases, including proceedings in the Court of Appeal. I have also provided peer support and heard many stories from others who have faced difficult cases.

On the board, I contribute both as deputy chair and to maintaining clear, orderly finances. It is encouraging that we have finally established an association. The most important thing now is to work together for change. For that, we need your support and membership.

Together, we have strength and numbers, and we can make an impact in a very different way from a Facebook group alone. In my own cases, I wished there had been help available. That is why this is an area we need to work on.

I am also active in the church, including delivering food to families who need it. Through this work, I see how harshly the system can treat people, and I want to help change that.

Outside this work, I enjoy sailing. This August, I will be sailing from the Mediterranean to Norway. I also often sail with children and young people.

Hello, my name is Kristine Sandland. I am a qualified healthcare worker and child and youth worker.

I am 41 years old, have six children, five of whom are biological, and seven wonderful stepchildren. I currently live in Spain and enjoy life here.

My involvement in child welfare issues and FvsB began when my children's friends, who were in the care of child welfare services, started telling me what they were experiencing in foster homes and residential care.

After speaking with countless children and parents, I saw that the system was not working at all for many of them. I was also disturbed that several children said things had become much worse after they were placed outside their homes.

I also have personal experience of child welfare services. I have experienced how demanding it can be when anonymous reports of concern are received, and how an entire family can be affected by having to deal with a system that gains significant power over your life.

I am direct and honest, and I am not afraid to stand up against injustice and outright breaches of the law.

Within FvsB, I particularly want to contribute to our work with children and young people. I want the youth group to become a place where young people are heard, taken seriously and supported by people who understand that their voices truly matter.

I am part of FvsB because I want child welfare services that genuinely protect children, listen to people's experiences and treat families with respect, legal safeguards and meaningful support.

I hope that, together with the other board members, I can help improve child welfare services in Norway.

My name is Barbro Paulsen. I am a lawyer specialising in children's law, human rights and critical examination of administrative practice. For more than 15 years, I have worked closely with people who have struggled against a system they did not understand and in which they were all too often not heard.

I have stood on the front line against abuses of power and used the law as a tool for justice.

I have no role in the association's financial management or allocation of funds. This is a deliberate, principled separation that safeguards my impartiality, professional independence and legal integrity. My legal work must stand independently of financial considerations.

My role in FvsB has two parts: I am a member of the association's board, and my main function is to provide legal advice and work to uphold legal rights.

This means helping to ensure that the association's work is grounded in current law and human rights; reviewing the quality of strategic assessments and legal processes; providing guidance and legal support in dealings with public authorities; contributing to information and training on rights and how the system works; and monitoring unlawful conduct, systemic failures and unjustified interference in family life.

My legal aid background is broad and grounded in practice. I worked with Gatejuristen in Tromsø and Oslo for a total of four years, providing legal aid to people affected by substance use and social exclusion. Overlapping with that work, I spent three years at the Church City Mission's legal aid service, focusing on social welfare, family and health law. During my law studies, I worked in the prison group at Jusshjelpa i Nord-Norge, gaining a powerful insight into how power operates — and is often misused — against those with the least.

I chose the law as a tool for justice, not as a shield for the system. That is also why I am deeply committed to building bridges between professional communities, grassroots organisations and other associations, so that together we can stand stronger against injustice.

Folket vs. Barnevernet should be a unifying force for change. My role is to ensure that this happens with the law in our hands and the truth behind us.

Kind regards
Barbro Paulsen
Advokat B.P. AS

I am 17 and currently live in Turkey with my mother, Ida. I have grown up with experiences that have given me a strong commitment to children's rights and the importance of being heard. In 2019, my mother and I moved to Turkey to give me a safe upbringing and future.

The organisation's story began long before Folket vs Barnevernet had its current name. It began with my mother's fight for me, and the group was originally called ‘Maja Helena skal hjem’ (‘Maja Helena must come home’). Maja therefore has a very special connection to the organisation's history and to why its work began.

At the same time, she is not only part of its history; she also represents its future. As a young person, she can bring a perspective that adults do not always have. She represents a generation that will live with the consequences of today's system, and can contribute her own experiences, thoughts and perspectives on how children and young people experience being heard — or not being heard.

As a board member, Maja Helena wants, over time, to contribute to better child welfare services. She is also part of the organisation's long-term work and may, in time, help carry forward the values, history and work on which Folket vs Barnevernet is founded.