Folket vs. Barnevernet

When you face child welfare services alone

Children need protection. Families need support. Their experiences must be heard.

FvsB is a community for children, parents, relatives and others affected by Norway's Child Welfare Services (Barnevernet). We stand alongside people who need support and a clearer understanding of a difficult situation. We also bring their experiences together to show where support and legal safeguards are failing — and what needs to improve.

Become part of FvsB

Join us and strengthen our work

See the autumn offer Go to the members' page Youth portal Support our work — choose your amount

You do not need to have a child welfare case of your own to become a member. You may be a parent, a care-experienced adult, a grandparent, a professional, or someone who believes that children deserve protection and families deserve support.

As a member, you support both the community around people facing a case and the work of turning their experiences into knowledge that can change practice.

Autumn offer: Standard membership costs NOK 200 for one year. During the autumn offer, membership costs NOK 100 for one year. Youth membership costs NOK 50 for six months. You can also make a voluntary donation and state what you would like it to support. Complete your membership registration before proceeding to payment.

Register before paying

Enter your name, email address, age, county, full address and membership type. Your registration is saved before you proceed to Vipps. Standard membership: NOK 200 for one year. Autumn offer: NOK 100 for one year. Youth: NOK 50 for six months.

Use the same name and membership type in your Vipps message. Your membership will be confirmed once payment has been checked.

A community that listens. A voice for change.

You do not need to have a case of your own to care. FvsB brings together people who want to strengthen protection for children, support for families and legal safeguards in practice.

Support and understanding

We know what it is like to be on the other side of child welfare services

Many people who contact us are trying to understand what is happening in their own case. What are the assessments based on? Has the child's view been heard? Has the parents' explanation been included? What help is available, and who can they turn to?

FvsB listens, shares experience and helps people find relevant legal, health or other support. We also know how important it is to have someone to talk to while a case is ongoing.

Being heard can be the first step towards understanding what is happening.

Children and their relationships

When a child moves away from home, everyone needs support

When a child moves away from home, their attachment to their parents and other close people does not end. The child may have questions, feel grief and need to understand what has happened. A parent remains a mother or father, but loses the opportunity to be part of the child's everyday life. Relatives may be left unsure how to support the child.

For many, this is a life crisis. Yet parents can be left alone with the shock, grief and questions.

Support must take the whole child into account.

Good follow-up must include the child, the parents and the important relationships around the child — even when the child does not live at home.

Knowledge from lived experience

Lived experience must inform professional knowledge

Parents and children know things about how child welfare services work in practice that do not always appear in decisions and reports. They can describe what happens when information is hard to understand, important facts are not investigated, help does not arrive, or they do not feel heard.

FvsB aims to collect and organise these experiences. We will use them in dialogue with professionals and public authorities, in training and in the development of better services. These experiences should lead to questions that can be investigated and improvements that can be put into practice.

What happens in practice must influence how services develop.

Our goals

Our work

01 / PROTECTION

Child welfare services that protect children

When a child is in danger, they must be protected. Assessments must be thorough, documented and open to scrutiny. The child's voice must be taken seriously.

02 / SUPPORT

Family support that makes a real difference

Families must be able to access early, practical support, respite and follow-up. They must be able to ask for help without fear of intervention preventing them from being open.

03 / FOLLOW-UP

Support after an intervention, too

When a child moves away from home, they need safe relationships and good follow-up. Parents need help to cope with the crisis and to maintain or build a positive relationship with their child wherever possible.

04 / CHANGE

Knowledge that leads to change

The experiences of children, parents and relatives must be used to identify mistakes, improve assessments and develop services that genuinely help.

Autumn membership offer

Join us as we build our community

This autumn is about bringing people, experiences and collective effort together. Membership enables FvsB to develop its support and information work and become a clearer voice for children and families.

Autumn offer: NOK 100 for one year's membership. Standard price: NOK 200 per year.
Youth membership: NOK 50 for six months, with a dedicated youth portal.
Support our work with an amount of your choice. Earmarking your donation is optional.
Your membership code gives access to the handbook and monthly newsletters.
In December, we come together for a candlelight vigil, lighting candles for children who are no longer with us.

Standard membership: NOK 200 per year
Autumn offer: NOK 100 for one year
Youth: NOK 50 for six months

View the offer and choose your membership

Support our work — choose your amount