45 Visits in 2018 The management and staff had previously been in a situation where they had needed to implement use of coercion under pressure from the police. The child welfare service also expected the institution to make decisions on extensive restrictions. In this situation, the institution felt that it had no other choice then to comply. The county governor pointed out that restrictions had been enforced that were in excess of what is permitted pursuant to the Rights Regulations. The police or other parties cannot instruct a child welfare institution to exercise coercion in excess of the restrictions provided for in the Rights Regulations. The use of coercion exercised on this basis entails a high risk of young people being subjected to arbitrary deprivation of their liberty. Furuly had procedures for restricting freedom of movement in an apartment on the centre’s first floor, which appeared to facilitate more extensive force than the staff and management had described as desired practice. The procedures lacked a description of how to ensure that the adolescents placed in the apartment were not isolated from the other residents. Certain parts of the procedure handbook also contained elements that the NPM pointed out could contribute to a sense of insecurity and helplessness and increased the experience of force. The NPM underlines the importance of routines and procedures that safeguard children’s rights, including their right to proper care and treatment. It is also essential that both the management and staff are familiar with the procedures and have a shared understanding of how they should perform their work, and that everyone has the knowledge and expertise needed to give the treatment that the institution provides. It could take time before the residents at Furuly were offered schooling, due to what the institution felt was a delayed and reluctant response on the part of local schools to accept the Furuly residents. The NPM underlines the importance of all children and young people who have a right to schooling being provided this without undue delay. Skjerfheimkollektivet 18.–20. september 2018 Skjerfheimkollektivet is a residential and treatment institution for adolescents between the ages of 15 and 18 with serious substance abuse problems. The institution is a department under Buskerud, Vestfold and Telemark behandling ungdom, owned by the Norwegian Children, Youth and Family Affairs Service (Bufetat). Skjerfheimkollektivet was well equipped and the physical conditions were pleasant and clearly reflected consideration for the youth living there. The exceptions were the room for urine tests and the “sluice room”. These rooms were used to perform coercive measures and it is therefore important that they are designed to ensure the patients’ sense of security and dignity. Over the years before our visit, Skjerf­h eim­ kollektivet had made several changes to the way in which they worked with the residents. The changes implied among other things a more individual approach to the residents’ treatments and in their everyday lives, less rigidity and more focus on the residents going to school or working outside the institution. The changes were important to providing a secure framework and good treatment for each individual resident. Different measures described as camps or trips were used at Skjerfheimkollektivet, which are measures typically used by substance abuse institutions for minors. The trips were described in and based on decisions on restricted freedom of movement pursuant to the Rights Regulations Section 22. An administrative decision of this kind cannot be used to take a young person on a trip against their will as part of their treatment. The institution must ensure participation and consent on the part of the resident before being entitled to take them on therapeutic trips.

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