Children’s ombudsman questions whether funding reaches those in need

mbl.is reports that Children’s Ombudsman Salvör Nordal is questioning whether public funding intended for children’s services is reaching the children who need it most.

“We are putting substantial funds into schools, child protection services and various treatment options, but we need to start thinking about how this money is best spent and what results we want to achieve,” Salvör said in an interview on the Dagmál programme this week. “Are we achieving these results, and if not, why not?”

Last autumn, Salvör asked the prime minister to commission a study into what happened to children who had been placed in treatment facilities run by the state. The prime minister decided there was no reason to conduct such a study at that time.

Salvör said the research could have shown what results the treatment system had achieved over recent decades and whether the services offered were helping the children they were intended to support.

“It would be very important and useful to see how these children fare when they become adults, because that is one measure of success,” she said.

She said there were indications that the desired results had not been achieved despite substantial funding for the sector.

“We need to think about why we are not achieving as good results as we would like. Despite the genuine desire to improve the systems, we are not achieving the results we want. Could it be that the money is getting stuck in the system before it reaches those who genuinely need the service, the children themselves?”

Asked whether the problem could be that funds were not being used correctly or that projects were insufficiently prepared, Salvör said those factors could explain part of the problem, but that other issues were likely involved as well.