Higher marks with mom at home

New research indicates that the older children of mothers who opted to stay home with their youngest children, instead of putting them in Norway’s subsidized day care centers, did better in school than their peers who attended after-school programs or came home to an empty house because both parents were working full-time. The research questions whether [...]

Police evict homeless as debate rages

Police evicted more than 100 occupants of an abandoned building in Oslo Thursday morning, many of them Roma and other foreign migrants. The evictions occurred as debate continues to rage over what state and local authorities should do to halt such illegal occupations and camping within city limits. Providing legal accommodation and welfare services for [...]

Norwegian youth in second place

While Norway often tops international charts assessing quality of life, the country ranks second in the overall well-being of its children and youth, and seventh for their satisfaction with their lives. In the charts that measure how easy young Norwegians find it to talk to their mothers, Norway lies near the bottom. Norway came in [...]

Bomb threat forced NAV evacuation

An office for the Norwegian state welfare agency NAV in the west coast city of Haugesund was evacuated on Tuesday after being the target of a bomb threat. Police had a suspect under arrest by early afternoon. The threat came in around 11am and armed police quickly surrounded the building in downtown Haugesund and evacuated [...]

Day care centers ‘breaking the law’

Dangerous playground equipment, poor sanitation, babies waiting in a queue for diaper-changing and even the presence of rats and mildew: Oslo-based newspaper VG revealed on Monday that such conditions have been found at various day care centers around Norway. VG’s report set off an immediate uproar over the quality and control of the state-backed but [...]

Doctor facing death wins big prize

Dr Per Fugelli, a general practitioner in Norway who’s lately advocated more openness around death while dealing with a cancer diagnosis himself, has been awarded this year’s Freedom of Expression Prize from the country’s Fritt Ord Foundation. Fugelli, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2009, won the award for “having given a voice to cancer [...]

Babies parked out in the cold

An age-old Norwegian practice of putting babies in their carriages and parking them outdoors to take their naps, also in the middle of winter, is now under scrutiny. Immigrant parents and a doctor at the University of Oslo are questioning the ritual, which has developed over the years with no solid medical research to support [...]

ID scams may lead to DNA testing

Calls were being made this week for mandatory DNA-testing of children born at home in Norway, following several welfare fraud cases involving women who claimed benefits for  children they never had. More than 70 children have been deleted from the state’s public register (Folkeregister) because they didn’t exist. Newspaper Aftenposten reported this week that state [...]

Breastfeeding advocate retires

Norway’s internationally renowned obstetrician and breastfeeding advocate Dr Gro Nylander is retiring this week after a long career, but she’s not leaving without voicing her concerns. She fears a shift towards shorter maternity leave in Norway could lead to a drop in the number of women breastfeeding, and claims that increased paternity leave is a [...]

Privileged fathers feel the squeeze

Dads in Norway have never had it so good. Armed with paternity leave benefits that rank among the best in the world, and social acceptance for taking advantage of them, Norwegian fathers are expected to play far more active roles in their children’s upbringing, but now they’re feeling the same pressure in striking a work-life [...]

Government flunks welfare test

Another new public opinion poll shows that only 10 percent of Norwegians think their primary welfare services – schools, health- and elder care – have improved in recent years. Nearly 30 percent now have less faith that Norway’s public sector will deliver the services individual Norwegians need and can demand.  The results of the poll, [...]

Day care rebellion set off a strike

Thousands of staff members at day care centers in Oslo, joined by parents, went on strike on Wednesday afternoon over cutbacks, chronic staffing shortages and increasing privatization. Local politicians are fighting what amounts to a day care rebellion, with other day care staff and parents unhappy around the country. Oslo’s city government (byrådet), with its [...]

Hundreds caught in welfare swindles

Norway’s state welfare agency NAV, which administers everything from unemployment benefits to maternity leave pay, is cracking down on welfare cheats. NAV has reported 655 persons to the police this year, charged with swindling around NOK 117 million worth of welfare benefits. “We’re focusing more on welfare fraud and working continually to detect swindles,” Sverre [...]

Call goes out for six-hour workday for parents

Parents of small children should be allowed to work just six hours a day at full pay, claims one of Norway’s biggest labour unions, YS. It’s lobbying for the right to a six-hour workday for parents when their children are aged one to three. “This is a proposal that we think will lead to more [...]

Nursing home strike drags on

A strike by health care workers at privately run nursing homes wrapped up its first week on Wednesday with no sign of settlement in sight. The workers are demanding the same pension benefits paid to health care staff at commercially-run nursing homes. Negotiations between their labour organization, Fagforbundet, and NHO Service, representing their employers, broke [...]

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