The National Agency for Children and Families
Role and structure of child protection services
Municipalities are responsible for child protection and work according to Icelandic child protection laws.
Child protection services operate in municipalities all over the country and have the role of helping children and parents with serious problems, to ensure the welfare and safety of children.
Child protection services are specialized, and child protection workers usually have professional qualifications in fields such as social work, psychology and pedagogy. It is in the hands of municipalities to hire professionals for their child protection services; as support, child protection workers have access to the National Agency for Children and Families (Barna- og fjölskyldustofa) for handling cases if necessary. District councils have the power to make decisions in certain child protection cases.
Professional handling of cases
Municipalities define a policy on child protection, and to ensure professional handling of cases and monitoring, an implementation plan is sent to the Ministry of Education and Children and the National Agency for Children and Families. Although municipalities are responsible for implementing child protection work within a municipality, they are not allowed to receive any information on the cases received by child protection services or to give instructions to child protection services on handling individual cases.
In order to ensure professional work in child protection cases, the aim is that each child protection service and district council has at least 6000 inhabitants. The criterion is based on how many cases the child protection services usually handle in order to maintain sufficient professional work; according to law, there are examples of exceptions from the population limit behind each child protection service if there is enough professional knowledge within the service in question.
Child welfare services of municipalities
If the population of a municipality does not reach 6,000 people, the child protection services must conclude an agreement with other municipalities on joint child protection services or apply for an exemption, for example, based on geographical reasons. Today, several child protection services operate across municipalities, for example, in the West Fjords, North Iceland and the East Fjords.
District Council for Child Protection
District Councils are independent administrative committees that have the power of decision-making in certain child protection cases at the local level, including in cases where there are coercive measures.