Quality and Supervisory Authority of Welfare (GEV) started an initial review of the Child Protection Services in Borgarbyggð in March 2023 due to a number of requests that had been received by the agency. These were serious suggestions and complaints that were related to the quality of the service. The review was limited to services that were provided between January 1, 2022 and April 1, 2023. The goal was to examine the child protection services’ activities, practices, procedures and other things that could shed light on the quality of the service and whether it was in accordance with laws, regulations, rules and guidelines that should be followed in processing child protection cases.

Report with the summary (only in Icelandic) has now been published but due to the identifiable information in the report it will not be published in its entirety, see Article 4(1) of the Act on GEV.

Various data was examined in the study as well as interviews with staff and managers of the service.

The results of the quality and supervision of the welfare show that there was a significant and serious failure in the processing of cases at the Child Protection Services of the City during the period of the study.

• Firstly, it is clear that there has been a shortage of clear procedures and instructions for the staff of the child protection services.

• Secondly, the registration of cases and the retention of information according to Article 39 and Article 42 of the Child Protection Act no. 80/2002 (bvl.) was seriously lacking.

• Thirdly, there was a significant lack of communication and cooperation with the parties in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations, see, among other things, Article 4(4) of the Act.

• Fourthly, the processing of cases was repeatedly violated by the procedures in Chapters V, VI and VIII of the Act and this applied to all stages of the procedure, both regarding the handling of notifications, decisions on appointment of a spokesperson, examination of cases, drawing up of procedure plans, implementation of accommodation outside the home and implementation of emergency measures according to Article 31 of the Act.

On the basis of the results of the study, the report contains recommendations for improvements that the child protection services should work on within six months.

Multiple improvements already made to the service

It is clear from the information from the Child Protection Service of Borgarbyggð that many improvements have already been made in accordance with the recommendations for improvements presented in the report. Among other things, improvements have been made in internal control, procedures and instructions to staff. In addition, the number of staff positions has been increased and access to a lawyer with knowledge of child protection issues has been improved. In addition, the work is underway to establish the Child Protection Service of West Iceland, where Borgarbyggð will become the leading municipality.

The GEV's initiative study was implemented in good cooperation with the Child Protection Services of Borgarbyggð, which has already received the report. The GEV welcomes the improvements that have been made and expects that improvements will continue to be made in accordance with the recommendations set out in the report.